Silverbeard Arrives at Frostgrave

Only Rick showed up to play on Skirmish Saturday Night and the family was mostly interested in playing Frostgrave, so Rick made up a Frostgrave warband (with pretty much the same figures he used for his Song of Blades and Heroes Warband…) and away we went!

SCENARIO

We played the standard “set up three treasures each and fight over them” with the addition of monsters spawning every turn.

FORCES

Rick’s warband was lead by an Enchanter named Silverbeard and his apprentice Lightmane. Among the warband was a Ranger named Jackson, and Archer named Virgil, a Dwarf Infantryman named Curly, and five Halfling thugs; Cutter, Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam…

The Boy returned to using his Necromancer (last seen in Game #2)

The Girl also returned to using her Sigilist (also last seen in Game #2)

Amanda carried on with her Thaumaturge. She’s hired a couple of Dark Elves to use as Marksmen – mostly because she found a magic crossbow on her last expedition (after the game she was asking me if I have any Elves with crossbows… “Elves? With Crossbows?! Um, no… but I DO have DARK Elves with crossbows!”)

(I didn’t actually PLAY… I just rolled for wandering monsters and stuff…)

THE GAME

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Rick and the family all set up and ready to go.

Amanda started things off by teleporting her wizard to the middle of the table then realized she couldn’t pick up treasure AND cast another teleport on the next round…

The Boy’s Necromancer and minions shamble forward into the ruins to snatch some nearby treasures!

Amanda’s Elves

Two of Rick’s Halfling Thugs are attacked by the Giant Rats that were generated as wandering monsters for Turn One. (After I took the photo, but before I resolved the rats turn, I remembered that Rats are Pack Hunters and should both attack one… lucky for Rick it turned out to be the guy NOT holding the treasure).

Amanda’s Elves and the Boys Nercomantic Minions duke it out over some treasures…

Amanda’s and The Girl’s warbands eye each other suspiciously as they each grab a treasure and let the others be. 

After chewing on one of the Halfling Thugs, one of the Giant Rats attacks Virgil the Archer.

More Wandering Monsters. The solitary Skeleton was easily dealt with…

The Ice Toad… not-so-much…

The Necromancer’s and Thaumaturge’s warbands still fighting in the square with the two statues. The Necromancer busted out his Demon in a Bottle!

The last of The Girl’s Warband to head for the table’s edge was headed off by a pair of Wild Dogs. She got a lucky roll (or rather the dogs had and incredibly unlucky roll) and won the combat (with out causing the dogs any harm), but it allowed her to leave combat and scurry off the table edge the next turn before the dogs could act again.

After eating one of Amanda’s Archers the Ice Toad hopped after the Thaumaturge herself… She blinded the poor beastie.

More Wandering Monsters provided for a little Skeleton on Zombie undead mix-up action.

The last wandering monster was a Ghoul that showed up on Ricks table edge, long after his warband had scarpered.

Well… This game, I think saw the least action of any game so far – and has me thinking I need to start setting up scenarios that require the players get into the action if they want to get any treasure… Everyone playing this evening was pretty non-aggressive and pretty much ran on and grabbed what was right in front of them and then split as fast as they could… Amanda’s Thaumaturge was the most aggressive of all the warbands!? There was no contact, let alone any fighting, between Rick and The Girl despite the fact they were set up next to each other. Amanda and The Girl quickly made a deal (you take that one, I’ll take this one and we’ll leave each other be…). The Boy wasn’t quite willing to make such a deal and so there was actually fighting between her and The Boy. Silverbeard used telekinesis to slip a few treasures away from the Necromancer’s reach, but that was the extent of conflict between those two…

Yeah, next week all the treasure’s going in a bit pile in the center of the ruin guarded by trolls or something nasty that they will have to fight to get any treasures…

POST GAME

New House Rule – I’ve instituted a new house rule (stolen from Mordhiem, sort of): If a players is fighting a wizard of higher level they will earn bonus Experience Points equal to the difference between their level and that of the higher level wizard x10. So a wizard that is second level fighting in a battle against a wizard that is sixth level would get a bonus 40xp. The idea is you learn a lot quickly when you get schooled by the masters…

In Rick’s inaugural game he only lost the one thug to a giant rat – who turned out to be totally okay. He collected 320 experience points (60 for spells cast, 200 for treasure, and 60 for the new level difference bonus). Among the four treasures he hauled off he collected 230 gold, a candle of Summoning, a Drinking Horn of Healing, a Grimoire containing the spell “Familiar”, and three potions (Toughness and 2x Healing)

The Girl had no losses to check for – in fact the only fighting I think she did all game was against the two Wild Dogs that wandered on at the end… nevertheless, she collected 250 experience points!? (70 for casting spells, 150 for treasure, and 30 for the new level difference bonus). The treasure she hauled off included 100 gold, a ring of Teleportation, two scrolls (Dispel and Reveal Death), and three potions (Strength and 2x Toughness)

The Boy has s bit rougher time of it battling the Thaumaturge’s aggressive ruffians (I think it’s the Dark Elves… bad influence on the rest of the warband). A Knight, and infantryman, and a thug were all taken out of action during the game. The Thug died, the others turned out fine. The Necromancer gained 250 experience (50 for spells cast, 100 for treasure collected, 20 for the new level difference bonus, and 80 for taking out the Thaumaturge’s Apprentice!)

Amanda also had a bit of a rough time – she’d taken on the Necromancer to try and get some more treasure and faced an Ice Toad that wandered into her area. The Wizard was okay (I don’t even remember the Wizard being taken out – but I have in my notes that she was okay – this is what happens when I write up game reports four days after the fact… must have been taken out by the Ice Toad…?). The Apprentice had a “Close Call” – but she had very little equipment to lose. One archer was badly wounded (and will miss a game) and two others were killed DEAD! The Marksman (with the magic crossbow!) and Dog that had been injured fully recovered. For all her pains, she only gained 210 experience points (60 for spell casing, 150 for treasures). The Treasure brought her 90 gold (not enough to hire replacements for her losses!). She also found a Sword that deals +2 dammage, Robes of Arrow Turning and three scrolls (Bind Demon, Decay, and Beauty).

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have a few more English Civil War figures I’ve finished up and should get around to posting pictures in the next day or two… then it’ll be Saturday again… and hopefully I’ll get the game report(s) posted a little quicker!