Tips for first (3 player) game

[Comrade Penguin]

Hello all,

So I've recently convinced my friends to join me in our first Frostgrave campaign.  We have already built our wizards and warbands, and our first game will be this Saturday.

There will be three of us there for the first game, and I would appreciate any tips/houserules/suggestions you guys may have.  How do you handle deployment and monster spawning?  Should we use the 3x3 table or up it to 4x4?  Will 9 treasures be enough?

Thanks!

[Morray]

Personally having played a few games I've found that instead of pushing a turn limit, go for an increasing amount of wandering monsters every turn.

 It's really helped to add an element of *Oh Christ get the treasure quick!* In my games.

That and I think models should be able to "Hide" As a second skill, so move - hide. As LOS spells cast well can end dudes quick!

[Zinkala]

We've played a few 3 player games. 3'x3' makes for a fast, bloody game. My one son uses a soothsayer with the spells granting more treasure both real and illusionary. That made it real crowded trying to play 10-11 (3 per player + 1 or 2 for the spells) treasures on the table. It was easy for each player to get at least a couple treasures off the board so even the big loser came out ahead because his knocked out minis didn't die.

We like it better with the 4'x4' table because it spread the treasures out more leading to more manouvering. It also made us think about whether to split up into seperate groups to try and do a fast grab or bunch up and try to overpower the opposition in a smaller area. Throw in wandering monsters and it's interesting.

[Comrade Penguin]

Thanks for the replies.  I like the idea of monsters spawning/wondering, now I just have to figure out a way to do this fairly.

I have quite a few multilevel buildings, so I can really build a labyrinth if desired.  Close and bloody 3x3 sounds good to me but I will have to lay the table first to see if we will be too congested.

[Digitarii]

Thanks for the replies.  I like the idea of monsters spawning/wondering, now I just have to figure out a way to do this fairly.

It's in the rulebook in chapter six: Bestiary. It's the optional rule for random encounters. Page 108 of my book.

[fastolfrus]

Multilevel buildings are a good way to spread treasure - if you make the top floors compulsory treasure locations.
Also we play to a "last man on the table gets nothing else off" finish - stops the temptation to slaughter the other players and collect the loot at leisure, and once the others start heading towards the exit makes it more of a race. Keeps the game quite fast paced (that may just be our playing style).
As a consequence, we rarely get all treasures off the table so our warbands don't get the rapid development that some players encounter.