Dumb “newbie” questions

[grubman]

So, I won’t have the actual rulebooks for a few days...but I’m wondering about a few things.

How big is the average warband? 

I see a few gnoll  and creature miniatures, but are the majority of the warbands human? If I wanted to have a goblin warband, for instance, is that a big no-no, or doesn’t it really matter what miniatures I choose to represent warband members? 

Now that the game has been out a while, and the official miniature line is so extensive, do the majority of players use those figures, or is it still very much whatever miniatures you chose.   I have scads of old school Metal Magic figures that have never seen the tabletop for all the typical rpg types.

How “dark” is this game/setting?  I’m really not a fan of dark settings and enjoy a bit of “humor”...I mean, if I use some goofy old school disproportioned miniatures am I going to destroy the “mood”?

Just getting started, other than your wizard and apprentice, would one of the soldiers plastic boxed sets handily cover the rest of your warband?  For that matter, what about the Oathmark human infantry?  I like those miniatures, but they are definately rank and file type soldiers and archers would the be suitable, or pretty limited beyond generic troops.

Thanks.

[giles the zog]

The normal sizer war bands is 10, that's the rules. You can increase the size using a few base resources and or spells but 13 is the biggest I've amassed.

The rules assume all models are type X...so race does not make much difference unless dictated by the rules and supplements.

Miniatures models etc...are what you choose...

The setting is as dark as you make it. I had two games on the 29th with 6 of us and it was very much "fun" with models hopping between tables causing absolute chaos. I will be waiting this up ASAP but it was a scenario called the Felstad Falcon, which in no way shape or form was designed around the Maltese Falcon film.

For the figures, a box of the Frostgrave Soldiers would cover most of your needs for generic thugs, thieves and so on. I would commend also, a box of the female soldiers for variety. The metal figures are good if you have the dosh and you should ensure your gaming group have access to the various monsters that will turn up (GW Zlombies, Skeletons etc, NorthStar monsters and so on). I would also hit evil bay and get some old Citadel figures as well.

HTH

[grubman]

Thank you very much for taking the time.  That answers most of my initial questions.

Just to clarify...

The rules assume all models are type X...so race does not make much difference unless dictated by the rules and supplements.

Miniatures models etc...are what you choose...

So, if I made my entire warband goblins, and I showed up at  some kind of organized play, nobody would (or should) have an issue?

Do people who play regularly come up with unique warbands?  Or are most more traditional?

[twrchtrwyth]

There should be no problem at all provided you can tell what your models are meant to be. It's one of the great things about the game. I have a gnoll warband and another chap at the club has a dwarf one.

[giles the zog]

Thank you very much for taking the time.  That answers most of my initial questions.

Just to clarify...

So, if I made my entire warband goblins, and I showed up at  some kind of organized play, nobody would (or should) have an issue?

Do people who play regularly come up with unique warbands?  Or are most more traditional?

I would always check with the other players. One of my mates has a load of black powder weapons armed  pirate figures, and he simply explains to his opponent they're not WISYWIG, the pistols are bows (move and fire) and the muskets are X-bows.

[Darkson71]

As long as it's easy to tell the different models apart no-one should have any issue with a goblin warband (no "this goblin with a sword is a thief while this one is a knight" shenanigans ).

FG hasn't been played here for a while, but our last campaign had a High Elf warband, a goblin warband, a dwarf warband, a fully human warband and a "odds & sods" warband (mine).

[Hobgoblin]

The last time I played Frostgrave, I used an all-goblin warband. It was perfectly easy to tell them apart: the one with a two-handed mace and heavy armour was a templar, the ones in rags with hand weapons were thugs, the one with just a dagger was a thief, and so on.

As arms and armour act as the distinguishing factors for the soldiers, species doesn't matter at all with humanoids that use weapons and armour.