The scene is set
On Saturday, Rowan and I headed over to the Games Emporium at Mansfield to try out Frostgrave. A helpful member of staff helped us through the first couple of turns while we got the hang of the rules. We both had starting warbands. I fielded a Thaumaturge, Apprentice, Barbarian, 2 Archers, 3 Thugs and a Thief, while he had an Enchanter, Apprentice, Marksman, Treasure Hunter, 5 Thugs and a Thief.
We used the ruins I had just built, with a few pieces of Emporium stuff – even on a 3′ x 3′ table we needed extra.
Advancing to the first treasure
Here the barbarian leads a couple of thugs to the first bit of treasure – a statue, urged on by Jeremiah Crow. All good so far. The skull festooned wall is the large central building where much of the action was to take place.
Marksman and Thaumaturge face off
In an effort to protect the warband, Jeremiah tried to cast Blinding Light on the enemy marksman (taking cover at top right) – but failed to make the casting roll, a pattern which was to become all too familiar.
Treasure is dragged away
You shall not pass
Over on my left flank, Rowan’s thief had found another statue and started dragging it away. Two thugs picked up a ‘magic’ barrel and one pulled it while the other stood in front as a human shield. You can take cover behind other models, so the use of cannon fodder to protect more valuable models seems to be a standard Frostgrave tactic.
My barbarian climbed up the side of the central tower and attempted to block the enemy treasure hunter as he climbed the stairs. Sadly there’s no combat bonus for holding the higher ground. Barbarians are one of the best melee fighters, but treasure hunters are also strong, and he was forced back, allowing a thug to come up and support the treasure hunter.
Down below, a thug was advancing round the tower and getting dangerously close to my Thaumaturge. I sent the warhound forward to block him and to draw fire from the valuable wizard. Unfortunately it’s quite easy to kill a warhound in the open with a crossbow, and down he went.
Release the hound
I had got one piece of treasure safely away by this point, and another well on the way. I should have been happy with that and backed away but I wanted to claim that central treasure. The barbarian fell to the thugs and treasure hunter, but I sent in more – a thief, a thug and the apprentice. By this point, Rowan had discovered ‘Grenade’ – his favourite spell and both wizard and apprentice were hurling them at anything that moved.
I eventually got the treasure away, but model after model fell in close combat, and once you are outnumbered, it gets ever harder. Here, the apprentice, realising the desperate situation he is in resorts to a quick prayer before being hacked down.
By this point, other than the two thugs who had crept off with treasure, there weren’t many survivors. My wizard was slain, the apprentice was slain, I did get Rowan’s wizard with a lucky arrow, but I only had one archer left on the left flank. The thief tried to drag the treasure from the tower towards him before being cut down. The battle was over.
Last stand
After the battle, I rolled to see what would happen to the wizard – and rolling low discovered that he was dead. At that point it didn’t seem worth totting up the rest – I’d have to start again with a new warband. Rowan fared a bit better, finding a valuable Staff of Cursing, amongst other bits, and upgraded a few henchmen with the proceeds.
What did I learn? Well, don’t get greedy was one lesson. Enchanter’s throwing grenades are very dangerous was another. Another key point is not to get outnumbered in melee – models on their own die easily, even if they are your best. It’s also worth having a couple of cheap models as treasure carriers – if all they are going to do is disappear off the table with the loot, it’s not worth spending too much on them.
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