Frostgrave, bloody Frostgrave
Our first outing into the frozen City devolved into a bloody mess as both newbie warbands grappled for treasure in the snow and muck of Frostrgrave. My gallant opponent had gone all in on the Nickstarter and had a truly impressive set of terrain and snow mat, plus Frostgrave figures. I decided just to stick a toe in the water with some of my own figures and the basic book, building my warband around a Witch and some 28mm Inuit figures from Eureka minis.
His warband was based on a Sigilist using some Sisters of Sigmar and Frostgrave miniatures.
First impressions and lessons learned:
1. Combat is deadly, and Max dice rolls are especially so. So don’t pick a fair fight if you can help it.
2. Support your figures where possible. I got excited with some high movement rate figures and dashed off to grab stuff, leaving my warband too spread out to effectively support each other. Ganging up on other figures for that +2 bonus or more can turn the tide. My Animal Companion Polar Bear was tearing up the Sigilists thugs until they ganged up on it, with the Wizard actually turning the tide in HTH combat.
3. Use your archers in tandem to gang up from a distance. There’s a real trade off between volume of fire (Bow) and heavy hitting (Crossbow) – but whatever the mix, your archers will be more effective if they can focus on one target at a time.
4. Know your Wizard and their spells. We both picked spells that weren’t a good fit for the game, and didn’t understand the penalties for casting out of School. So choosing Elemental Ball for the Witch with a modified target of 16 to cast was a waste of a spell. Same goes for the Sigilist who had some after-game spells. And then play your warband based on the style of your Wizard. The Witch and Sigilist may not be the best blast ‘em wizards, but they can do some good nerfs and buffs, alter terrain, etc. I got fixated on blowing stuff up – but that’s not what a Witch is good at, and it cost me!
5. Know your relative distance – that “force combat” rule is a good way to pin a figure with movement. I made a fatal mistake and let my Apprentice get too close to a Templar’s double move distance. Doh! At least the Templar didn’t get the satisfaction of cleaving my Apprentice in twain – my Witch took care of that first!
Two moments for the Witch side.
*Summoning both a Bear and a Snow Leopard? Fantastic.
*Blowing away my own Apprentice with a Bone Dart spell as that figure was engaged in combat with a Templar? Priceless! (figured a 50/50 chance was better than none…oops, my bad!)
The Sigilist side played with better team work in terms of supporting figures, and the Sigilist cast some important instances of the Push spell to knock the Witch’s figures away from treasure and possible combat kills.
The end result was the Witch escaped with a single chest of treasure and one Thief figure, while the Siglist got away along with 2-3 thugs and treasure. So it was a pretty bloody win for the Sigilist. Great first game, look forward to applying lessons learned for the next game!
Welcome, Guest. Please 
February 09, 2025, 06:18:59 PM
August 19, 2015, 09:34:03 PM
