Bearwoodman in Frostgrave: An Incomplete History

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks Grumpy Gnome, I will have a look at that game. In fact I have bought some Blood and Plunder swivel guns and small cannon to add to my ship when I do get around to adding the finishing touches so I am somewhat familiar with the B&P model line. I am not going to launch into a major new project just yet but it is good to know there was a decent game that it could be used with in the future.

[Bearwoodman]

The Thaw of the Lich Lord

Scenario Four: Storm of Undeath

This scenario required four pylons or pillars.  These were to be arranged in a square within which certain magical happenings would occur (and, of course, within which the treasure would be located). The description of these pylons was pretty non-existent in the text, and I could not find any illustrations in the book, so I knocked together a set using bits left over from the ship, some mdf base and some skulls. I then added a few paper banners and painted on some "magical runes" and they were done.


My friend and I did not add any new soldiers to our band, but we did confirm that our avenging twin brother Witch wizard was called Ursus because of his love of Polar Bears (evidenced by the presence of two Animal Companions of that species in band, as well as by his, er, white fur coat - ethically sourced no doubt).

While the Dads' warband remained essentially unchanged going into the fourth game of the campaign, the boys had some new figures painted up that they wanted to press into the service of their wizard (named "Jack Zapp", after his liking for casting Elemental Bolt). These included a trio of cowboys in Stetsons and trench coats (the two brandishing revolvers were Archers while the third was a Thief).

The new recruits from the West.

There was also another new apprentice figure. The post-game survival roll had confirmed that Apprentice Florence (and her candle) had in fact survived her encounter with the ghouls in the last game but that she had, rather understandably, suffered "Psychological Scars".  As a result, going forward she was going to dress rather more appropriately for combat in sub-zero temperatures. Slightly more unexpectedly, she had also announced that from now on she was going to use the pronouns "he/him" and answer to the name "Steelface"!

Goodbye Florence, hello Steelface!

The game itself turned into a mass brawl in the shadow of the pylons as the Armoured Skeletons were awakened just as the warbands clashed amid the treasure.

 I think that warband casualties on both sides were surprisingly light in the end and that honours were fairly even when it comes to treasure. My abiding memory of this game, however, is that (ironically for a scenario set during a snowstorm) the weather was very hot. It is the first and only time I have played Frostgrave outdoors and followed it up immediately with a barbeque and a waterfight!

[Grumpy Gnome]

That is quite a narrative coming to life through gameplay mate…. Frostgrave at its best!

[snitcythedog]

My club has been working through the Lich lord and we played this one last week.  We had a similar experience with four of us playing and a brawl in the center.  Looks like you had just as much fun.  I do like your concept for pillars. 

[Bearwoodman]

@Grumpy Gnome - I agree! One of my favourite things about the game is how it can feel like an exciting tale is unfolding as you play. I am sure there are plenty of other games out there that do this too, but I it is definitely a strength of Frostgrave.

@snitcythedog - I find that a mass brawl in the centre is sometimes quite refreshing in Frostgrave, especially if previous games have been played a bit more sneakily and cautiously. I am glad you like the pillars, what did your group use?

[snitcythedog]

I used eight of these

Same models that I use for the living statue scenario. 
What are you planning for the bone wheel?

[Bearwoodman]

I used eight of these

Same models that I use for the living statue scenario. 
What are you planning for the bone wheel?

Nice! I like those statues. I don't own them but I know you can get stone versions and living versions of each, which is clever. As for the Bone Wheel, I did have a go at making one but I have a few more games to report on before I get to that one...

[Bearwoodman]

Thaw of the Lich Lord

Scenario Five: Run of the Rangifer

This scenario required 6 Rangifer figures. My son's friend had two Rangifer models (the only ones that Northstar produced at the time) but we needed 4 more. None of us had sculpting skills up to the task of creating new ones from scratch so we had to think a little more flexibly. I had recently acquired a set of Perry Agincourt knights from a sale at a local model shop and although I had built a few figures still had plenty of parts left on sprues to play with. I began to wonder whether there might be a type of Rangifer that in appearance was closer to human than Reindeer - to the extent that they could wear human style plate armour - but perhaps still displaying at least one Reindeer-specific physical characteristic. The four of us met up and each built a single Perry foot Knight.  I then added an extravagant set of milliput horns protruding from each helmet, and each family took a pair of the new "Rangifers" home to paint.


While painting my contingent of armoured Reindeer-men the heretical thought crossed my mind that perhaps the stories circulating the inns and taverns of Frostgrave (and gullibly repeated in the Lich Lord supplement) about these unlikely sounding creatures were more fiction than fact. Stories that were, perhaps, spread by a band of maurauders who, when out maurauding, donned armour that covered their features and attached Reindeer horns to their helmets in order to terrify their victims. I thought it plausible.

We're Rangifers, honest!

I also painted up a set of official Wraith Knight figures, because two were required for this game (one of which is below).


There are no specific terrain requirements for this scenario, but my friend had just made a river for general warming purposes so we had that running through the middle of the table (we deemed it frozen and subject to the same rules for slipping as the River in Scenario Two).


The other new thing made for this game was some cotton wool fog. Ursus the Witch had realised that his band needed protecting from Jack Zapp's Elemental Bolts and the Fog spell seemed the best way to do this.


Brenda the Infantrywoman.

It was another fun game. we (the Dads) had identified the opposing wizard as the primary threat and had concocted a plan to deploy a fast moving hit squad of thieves and polar bears under a screen of magical fog to try to take him out. It was almost successful (i.e. the Elementalist survived and the hit squad were slaughtered to a man/bear).


Jack is cornered...

...but his bodyguards rush to his aid and the brave bear is killed.

Meanwhile, there would be plenty of Rangifer and Wraith Knights on the table. The boys' Ulterior Motive card for this game was "Wraith Run" which meant there were two additional Wraith Knights wandering about (we used armoured LotR Orcs for the extra Wraith Knights).


Conscripted Wraith Knights


The Elementalist warband deploys.


A Thief darts forward to grab a treasure under cover of Fog.


A Wraith Knight pursues his quarry.


The Cowboys sneak about taking pot shots at the Witch and his followers.


Rangifer meets Brenda.


Improvised Wraith Knight clashes with imitation Rangifer.

Eventually all the Wraith Knights and Rangifers were slain and the boys had managed to grab 4 treasures to our two. Our spell casters had survived, but as Ursus and his three surviving followers trudged back to their camp, it felt like a win for the boys.


Jack Zapp and his apprentice Steelface gloat annoyingly

[Grumpy Gnome]

Another enjoyable game it sounds, thanks for the continuing reports. I can game vicariously through your adventures. 👍

[Bearwoodman]

Thaw of the Lich Lord

Scenario Six: The House of Longreach

This Scenario called for two separate gaming areas, a 3x3ft mansion interior and a 1x1ft treasure room.  The two rooms were connected by six (malfunctioning) magical doorways. My friend put together a black and white checkerboard style board to look like the tiled floor of the treasure room while I was charged with constructing some magic doorways.  To do this I used some square-ish pieces of pine wood planks and added some details using cardboard, then covered each piece in PVA mixed with water and sand before painting them. 

The doors were placed on the snowy felt mat (this was a rare game where the large 4x4ft mdf board was not used).

In terms of personnel there were a few new figures on the table, particularly in the Boys’ band, although this was more because they wanted to use new toys rather than because of upgrades to their warband. The cowboys had returned home to the range and in their place came some soldiers of Dunland painted by my son’s friend and an axe-wielding Gnoll (being my son’s most recently painted figure).  It was also noteworthy that Jack Zapp had a new apprentice whose long beard and pointy hat looked very familiar. It was none other than the great Gandalf, hero of Middle Earth and last seen in the Frozen City leading his own warband against my Saxon Enchanter and now reduced to trailing around after a mere level 15 Elementalist.  How the mighty fall!   

Gandalf, looking slightly sheepish

On the Dads’ side we had recruited a new Barbarian: Stewart the Minotaur (named after the tartan that I had attempted painstakingly to paint on his kilt).  Although he had featured in previous Frostgrave games, this was the first time he would fight for Ursus the Witch. 

We also had a new Zombie Snow Troll, the official North Star Figure (here escorted by some friendly cultists).


This game was initially played quite cautiously with the warbands keeping each other at arms-length and concentrating on trying to get to the treasure room. 

After a couple of turns, however, the malfunctioning magical doors started mixing up the two parties of treasure seekers and fights broke out. 

One such scrap involved our new bull-headed Barbarian appearing next to the Boys’ Thieving mushroom.  A perfect opportunity for our expensive new recruit to demonstrate his might (and justify our investment).  Alas, Stewart had the traditional luck of a new figure in a wargame (despite not technically being newly painted) and after a reducing the sneaky fungi to a single point of health was brought down by his much smaller opponent, much to the amusement of the Boys.

"Little mushroom, prepare to meet thy..."

"Oh."

It was not all one sided – Michelle the blond half-orc with the stripy leggings (recently upgraded to a Marksman) spotted the Gnoll emerge from a magical doorway and after adjusting her position slightly felled him with a single bolt.  The new figure curse had struck again!

Michelle spots movement amid the ruins.

One shot later and the movement stops.

Eventually small groups of followers of both the Witch and the Elementalist made it to the Treasure Room and found themselves battling side-by-side against the crazed cultists defending the room’s two treasures. 

Once the cultists had been dispatched the two groups of treasure-seekers eyed each other across the blood-soaked tiles.  The Boys’ warriors in the treasure room consisted of a Thief on 1 health and a Knight on 4 health, facing our full strength Treasure Hunter, Infantrywoman and Bear.  By that point the Boys’ warband had collected three of the four treasures on the main board and, realising that the odds did not favour them, agreed to our proposal that they be permitted safe passage out of the Treasure Room on the condition that we kept the two treasures within.

The Boys had lost more men in the battle, although post game rolls confirmed that they all recovered.  Our only casualty, poor Stewart the Minotaur, was on the other hand actually fully and entirely dead.  Both warbands collected 3 treasures each, although we had the “special” treasure from the Treasure Room.  It felt like a fair result.     

[Bearwoodman]

Thaw of the Lich Lord

Scenario Seven: Lair of the Ghoul King

For this game we needed:


1. The Ghoul King.
2. The Ghoul King’s Throne (featuring levers which operate the doors leading out from the Lair).
3. Lots of Ghouls.

The Ghoul King’s Throne was a joint effort between my friend and I.  One evening while our children played upstairs and our wives chatted we sat sawing, drilling, cutting and gluing bits of wood together.  We wanted something that was useable as a terrain piece (i.e. normal sized figures could be placed on it) and which was obviously a the seat of someone important, just not someone important and nice.  We also decided it did not need to be a beautiful work of carpentry as in our view Ghouls would probably not have particularly advanced woodworking skills.








I needed to decide which figure I was going to use for the Ghoul King. As usual in Frostgrave, the description in the text is fairly vague (to encourage the players to use their imaginations, I presume) but the book did state that the Ghoul King was to start the game sat on his throne.  I could have used the official North Star figure, but when I was browsing in a local gaming shop and came across a slightly strange looking crowned and seated figure, I immediately thought he could fill the vacancy. The figure was Gripping Beast's Brian Boru, a historical Dark Age Irish King. I really like the sculpt, mainly because he looks (to me) pensive and rather tired, as if he is sitting contemplating the result of a recent bloody battle  - a refreshing contrast to the usual mighty-warrior-brandishing-his-weapons-and-roaring-at-the-enemy pose. I decided to paint him up with the same eyes and skin tone as the Ghouls, but with much richer coloured clothes to signify his status.


The Ghoul King Supervising the construction of his throne.


The Ghoul King and Ghouls in progress.

Ready for battle.

For Ghouls in previous games I had used "Revenants" from Gripping Beast's Saga range. These are fun old fashioned metal figures with great character.  They are slightly crude compared to the latest digitally sculpted creations available from some manufacturers but the poses are dynamic and the variously contorted faces snarl, leer and wail in a suitably horrific manner.  I have a long term aim of creating a horde army for Dragon Rampant or similar consisting entirely of the these figures.  For this game, however, I restricted myself to painting up another 6 to give Brian the Ghoul King a rentinue of 12.


The Ghouls and their King.


A Zombie in the service of the Ghoul King.


A friendly welcome guaranteed.

The warbands were fairly unchanged save that we (the Dads) hired another Barbarian to replace Stewart the Minotaur who had died on his first outing last game.  In came a brawny pirate carrying a treasure chest and scimitar whom we imaginatively named “Long John”.  He was a Reaper Bones figure given to me by a friend to provide the nucleus of a crew for my ship (see Scenario Two: Battle on the River upthread), which is why I painted him with a “sandy beach” style base at odds with the rest of our band.  I know it doesn't match but I wanted to play with my new figure!


Here is a group shot of Ursus’s warband on the eve of the venture into the Ghoul Kings Lair: Bear Who Walks In Snow (Ranger), Brenda (Infantrywoman), Sir Ethel (Knight), Ursus Major (Wizard), Ursus Minor (Apprentice), Michelle (Marksman), Legolas (Archer), Long John (Barbarian), Aladin (Treasure Hunter). The only figure missing is Ursus’s signature Polar Bear (Animal Companion).

The game itself turned out to be reasonably straightforward and looking back now (the game took place three years ago) neither my friend or myself can remember any particular incidents.  The records show that the Dad’s warband retrieved 4 treasures to the Boys’ two and it was Ursus who acquired the Amulet of the Ghoul King from its former owner. 


The Ghoul King ponders.


The Lair of Ghoul King, ready for visitors.


Gandalf the Apprentice Elementalist meets a Ghoul.
 
Brenda wrestles with a Wraith Knight for control of the levers.
 
We felt that the warbands were becoming increasingly powerful relative to the forces that the Lich Lord was throwing against them, and that unless the warbands stood and fought each other (rather than the weaker side retreating as seemed to happen in this game) casualties would be light.  In this game the only soldier who did not walk off the board was Long John (new figure curse again).  I cannot remember how he became a casualty, but given that he was barefoot then frostbite cannot be ruled out.  He survived the post game rolls, however, so he would return to Felstad.  Unlike Brian, the former King of the Ghouls, who would not.   

[Bearwoodman]

The Lair of Grimolean

The next game of Frostgrave we played was the cooperative scenario featured in Issue 2 of Spellcaster magazine.  We chose this scenario for a number of reasons:

1) I had received a couple of issues of Spellcaster for Christmas and wanted to use the new rules (we also used the rules for black powder weapons from Issue 1);

2) We had a new player join us and we thought a cooperative game might be a good way for them to cut their teeth in relation to the rules;

3) It gave me an excuse the use my newly painted Reaper Bones Zombie Dragon.  I had backed the Reaper Bones IV Kickstarter reasonably heavily and was generally very pleased with the stuff I had received (it had more than doubled the size of my unpainted stash) but the Zombie Dragon, sculpted by Julie Guthrie, was easily my favourite of them all. 


The detail was good for a Bones model and the pose was both sinuous and agonised. The model, while larger than most things I had attempted before, was still smaller than most Dragon models and could be used within the confines of the ruined city reasonably easily.

I took control of the Dragon and found it to be a very powerful combatant.  Unfortunately (for me) I was facing powerful warbands who were able to first dispose of my Minor Demon servants with reasonable ease.  They then combined and focused their attacks on me while I could only fight my tormentors one at a time.  If we had played this scenario with level 0 warbands the outcome might have been different, but after a running battle through the icy streets with gouts of flames periodically turning snowdrifts (and the Boys’ Gnoll) into water vapour, the ancient beast was finally brought down and put out of its misery.   



The game took place on New Years Eve 2019.  At the time we wondered whether this might be the start of a new tradition, but seeing how 2020 turned out it is not one we have repeated.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great work on the zombie dragon. It sounds like you have been having a lot of fun in Felstad!

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks Grumpy Gnome. My games of Frostgrave have always been fun, although I sometimes wonder if it's the building and painting leading up to a game that I enjoy the most. I guess that the majority of us in this hobby end up spending a lot more time building and painting than actually playing, and I personally like the way most Frostgrave scenarios seem to present you with a little modelling challenge (or quite a large one in the case of the Pirate ship!) you are invited to complete before playing it.

[Bearwoodman]

Thaw of the Lich Lord

Scenario Eight: The Black Cauldron

For our next game we returned to the Lich Lord’s dastardly bid for domination of the Frozen City.  This scenario involved our wizards following a group of cultists dragging a sled piled with bodies until they reach a large cauldron into which the bodies were being fed and then regurgitated as zombies.

I decided to have a go at making a sled out of lolly sticks, which was fairly straight forward.


I did not have any suitable casualty figures for the bodies being transported, so I had a go at making some out of milliput. I quickly realised that sculpting believable humans was beyond my capabilities, but I thought that if I created roughly human shapes I could have them covered by a blanket with just their heads poking out (I used Mantic zombie heads). 



I also made a large fire place out of broken lolly sticks and matches on which to place a cauldron.


I had nothing in my existing collection that resembled a cauldron large enough to swallow piles of human corpses so I knew I would need to improvise. While enjoying some cockles with my fish 'n' chips one evening I was admiring the decorative patterns on the glass jar the cockles came in and realised that its slightly bulging profile was rather cauldron-esque. I therefore added some handles and magic runes using milliput to make an suitably enormous cauldron.





 I also added a lip on the inside of the cauldron that I could rest a large clear acrylic base on.


I then added some more Mantic zombies "emerging" from the liquid and applied some water texture to the base along.


There was enough room underneath the acrylic base to fit one of those battery powered flickering tea lights, and the effect of this light shining though the textured acrylic was pleasing.



My friend provided a pony to pull the sled and it's grisly cargo.

The game itself proved rather more perilous than the venture into the Ghoul King's Lair (at least for the Dads' warband). We only made it off the board with one treasure and three soldiers. Both our Wizard and his Apprentice became casualties, with the Wizard making a full recovery but the Apprentice being badly wounded.









Jack Zapp, the Boys' wizard, was now casting Elemental Bolt on a 5 and making it very dangerous for zombies or other warband members to come within line of sight. The Boys eventually picked up three Treasures and succeeded in tipping over the Dark Cauldron.


Our new player, whose Wizard commanded a gang of human sized mice (from a board game I believe) acquitted himself well too.

Ursus and his remaining followers returned to camp to lick their wounds (literally in the case of the polar bear).  But at least they would not have to to face The Cockle Jar of Carnage The Dark Cauldron again!