Which two wizards to start with?

[Jennifer]

I need some help choosing the first two wizards to start with.  I need to get this Frostgrave game going.  Which two are the most interesting to play in your opinion?   Which two have the least problems with rules etc..  Just want to make it easy yet very fun for the first game.

Reason I ask is it takes a lil while to receive them and then time to paint them.

How many soldier packs do I need to buy?

[Plus Four]

I'd suggest going with a style of wizard you enjoy or choose the one you like the look of best!

Most players seem to favour house-ruling kill xp so machine gun elementalists don't run away on the levelling front and this helps level the playing field for buff orientated wizards!

My favourite "official" wizard models are the Witch and this has nice spell options as well.

[Thunder]

There isn't a single wizard school that can't be made interesting with the right spell selection.

[jp1885]

There are 10 wizard schools, so number them 1-10, roll 2 D10s and choose that way

[Weezbeez37]

Hey Jennifer,

Quick question, are these warbands going to be fighting each other? If so then I'd suggest choosing opposed schools to start with.

 I've been able to introduce 2 different friends to play frostgrave, my first friend chose a necromancer warband to start with so I took a thaumaturge to battle against him and my other friend chose an elementalist so I took an illusionist.

This selection seems to be working out rather well for us and it also adds a nice thematic theme to our games so far. But in the end it really all depends on what your preference is for wizards and how you want to play them.

I bought 1 box of each of the following, frostgrave soldiers, cultists and Gripping Beasts Viking warriors and a bunch of Reaper Mini's wizards and I have more than enough mini's to satisfy all my frostgrave needs and then some..

Hope this helps some
Weez

[gnomehome]

Why not buy the model you think look best and use them as whatever school suits your fancy ? It does not seem like you will play a 'sanctioned' tournament where you'll be banned for using 'the wrong' model (if there even is such a thing).

[Darkson71]

Even two wizards from the same school can rapidly become very different, even if they start with the same spells, based on what they find and how much experience they find and what they do with it.
In our "learn the rules" campaign we had two chronomancers that started with almost identical spell lists, but after onyl 3 games they're completely different (one has gone the stat increase route with a few buffed spells, one has gone for a spell-based route).

[Jennifer]

Thanks for the help guys!

I bought 1 box of each of the following, frostgrave soldiers, cultists and Gripping Beasts Viking warriors and a bunch of Reaper Mini's wizards and I have more than enough mini's to satisfy all my frostgrave needs and then some..

Thanks. I was wondering what the box of cultists were for? Is that for the expansion?  It'd probably be a long time before I even got to the expansion.  SPent the past couple months just making terrain for the first book.  Thanks again

[Azzabat]

I second what @gnomehome said, choose a wizard you like the look of and use that as whatever school you decide on. I'm using an old Necromunda Wyrd with the pistol clipped off myself (http://www.karoath.com/graphics/gallery/necromunda/wyrd-beastmaster-a1.jpg) and my apprentice is the Thief from the Soldier box set.

As for spells/school I went thru the book and picked out 2 or three spells that suited my playing style best, then looked at which Wizards could use those spells. (I ended up with a Witch and a Thaumaturge)

The Cultist box set was produced for the Thaw Of The Liche Lord expansion but the figures in the Cultists box can be mixed and swapped with the Soldier box to give you even greater variety. I've got a box of each and it's giving me enough for several completely different Warbands with loads of left over bits for my Bitz Box.

Hope That Helps.

[Jennifer]

I bought 1 box of each of the following, frostgrave soldiers, cultists and Gripping Beasts Viking warriors and a bunch of Reaper Mini's wizards and I have more than enough mini's to satisfy all my frostgrave needs and then some..

Hope this helps some
Weez

Thanks again, I just looked at the Gripping Beast site and they got too many options for my brains.  Which viking set did you order?

[Weezbeez37]

Hey Jennifer,

The cultists box set was made for the Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign expansion but the mini's can work for expanding your warband with different poses and more options to expand the game..

My ideal thought was/is to create an 'Evil' warband with this box set  that in the off chance there's a 3 player battle going on... Or we want to get creative with our games, I can play the "bad guy's" and have the other players battle me.....

Some ideas for your games in the future!

Weez

[Jennifer]

Hey Jennifer,

The cultists box set was made for the Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign expansion but the mini's can work for expanding your warband with different poses and more options to expand the game..

My ideal thought was/is to create an 'Evil' warband with this box set  that in the off chance there's a 3 player battle going on... Or we want to get creative with our games, I can play the "bad guy's" and have the other players battle me.....

Some ideas for your games in the future!

Weez

Thanks I am sure I will get the cultists box some time in the future.  I only plan on playing two player games with my nephew for now and we haven't even played a single game of Frostgrave yet.  I had zero terrain, zero beasts and still have no soldiers/wizards.  I bought the reaper mouse set but I am thinking I won't use them because they are pretty small.. 25mm human figure is small enough as is. 

[Nooblord]

Don't want to state the obvious and come across as a cheapskate but there are sellers on e-Bay that sell individual sprues from many different boxed sets which is quite good if you want to mix and match or just don't need a whole box' worth.

For example there is a UK seller that sells the Frostgrave soldier and cultist sprues for £6 each which seems very fair given the £20 full box price for 4 sprues.

[Weezbeez37]

Hey Jennifer,

Terrain and mini's are the key thing to start out with but overall you and your nephew should be having FUN playing this game! The creature's or beasts option is just that, an option...  If you don't have the mini's then don't include them in your games... Also if you have the mini's, painted or not.. books, cups, or pretty much anything you have in a pinch will work for a suitable replacement for "proper" battlefield terrain.

Also the mouse mini's are perfectly acceptable to play with and if you don't believe me just check out Guerrilla Miniatures Gaming YouTube channel and at the same time watch a couple battle reports...

Hope this helps
Until next time happy gaming
Weez

[Philhelm]

If you're familiar with the fantasy genre in general, then I would suggest coming up with a character class for your wizard and theme your warband and spells around that.  I mentioned it in another thread, but I envision my Thaumaturge to be a D&D style cleric.  In Frostgrave canon, some Thaumaturges are more like traditional wizards, whereas others view their powers to be divine, so I chose the latter.  Rather than mercenaries, I figure that the Thaumaturge would be supported by actual soldiers from his order.  I will stick to a common color scheme and use some of the more martial soldiers and weapon options, such as men-at-arms with swords and shields, crossbowmen, infantrymen with halberds, Templars, and knights.  Instead of the Thaumaturge model, I intend to use the newer Templar (with hammer), and convert it to be my cleric.  The spells I choose will be like those I would expect a cleric to have:  Heal, Defense, Dispel, Strength, Enchant Weapon, etc.

Some of the theme ideas I have are:

1. Thaumaturge:  Cleric (as above).
2. Illusionist:  Thief or Bard supported by a thieves' guild.
3. Necromancer:  Evil henchmen, or perhaps even skeletons as the basic troops.  Maybe the Necromancer is a vampire?
4. Elementalist:  Court battle-wizard supported by proper soldiers.
5. Witch:  A Ranger or Druid supported by woodsmen (bowmen, axemen, war dogs, etc.).
6. Summoner:  Evil demon-worshippers, perhaps like Chaos Warriors from Warhammer.