Looking to start!

[ImperialMagnus]

Hello!

I'm new to this forum and looking for some advice/answers about Frostgrave before I invest and this forum looks the most active place to ask, so here goes!

I'm thinking of making a Necromancer warband, will probably use different minis for the wizard/apprentice as I'm not massively fussed for the official Necro ones, will probably get myself some skeletons to use as my warband. The wargames factory boxset seems to have greatest variety of weapons in it, making it easier for me to make soldier types (i.e. thug, thief man at arms etc...), unless anyone knows of any better boxsets worth looking at?

When you play a campaign and start getting gold, do you upgrade troops or do you have to wait for them to die before replacing them with the better version?

I know playstle boils down to personal preference, but do people find quantity over quality when starting a warband well? Or does it not make to much difference?

Any help and advice would be much appreciated!

[Timeshadow]

First off "WELCOME!!"

As long as the figures are generally what you see is what you get or easily identifiable then they are good to go. The rule of cool definitely applys.

You can fire old minions after any match or even before (in the case of summoning an animal companion or construct).

To begin with you want as many boots on the floor as possible but this doesn't prevent you from getting one or two quality guys or your captain right off the hop.

My usual start is this
Wiz
Apprentice 200gc
Captain (X-Bow, TH weapon, leather armor) or if you don't have Sell-sword just a marksman. 110gc
Crossbowman or Archer 50gc
Crossbowman or Archer 50gc
Thief or thug 20gc
Thief or thug 20gc
Thief or thug 20gc
Thief or thug 20gc
Warhound 10gc

I upgrade the thief/Thug to Treasure hunters ASAP and get an Inn and Kennel giving me another 2 soldier slots.

[ImperialMagnus]

Thanks muchly for the warm welcome!

I upgrade the thief/Thug to Treasure hunters ASAP and get an Inn and Kennel giving me another 2 soldier slots.

Increases your warband size to 12?

[Timeshadow]

Yes Inn is +1 any soldier, Kennel gives +1 Warhound freeing another solder slot from the warhound.

[Timeshadow]

My final list often looks like this

Wiz
App
Captain
Marksman
Marksman
Templar
Templar
Treasure Hunter
Treasure hunter
Treasure hunter
Treasure hunter
Warhound

[Digitarii]

Just a heads up, Wargames Factory's lines were bought out by Warlord Games who have not added them to their catalog as yet, so they can be difficult to track down, especially the skeletons. Also, the WGF skeletons are fiddly to put together. I start by gluing the feet to a base and assembling from there. I also assemble the weapon arms before attaching them. Trying to assemble the skeleton and then add the weapons is way beyond fiddly. It's downright infuriating.

Other options for undead warbands are the Cultist box, as they come with a few skeleton and zombie parts in addition to the Cultist parts. I also like the Mantic undead kits, but since the Mantic skeletons have shields cast as part of the body, they are less than useful for building thieves and thugs or any missile troops.

[ImperialMagnus]

Just a heads up, Wargames Factory's lines were bought out by Warlord Games who have not added them to their catalog as yet, so they can be difficult to track down, especially the skeletons. Also, the WGF skeletons are fiddly to put together. I start by gluing the feet to a base and assembling from there. I also assemble the weapon arms before attaching them. Trying to assemble the skeleton and then add the weapons is way beyond fiddly. It's downright infuriating.

Other options for undead warbands are the Cultist box, as they come with a few skeleton and zombie parts in addition to the Cultist parts. I also like the Mantic undead kits, but since the Mantic skeletons have shields cast as part of the body, they are less than useful for building thieves and thugs or any missile troops.

Thats good to know about the WGF skellies, will keep that in mind.

The cultists have skeleton/zombie parts?

[Digitarii]

Thats good to know about the WGF skellies, will keep that in mind.

The cultists have skeleton/zombie parts?

Yes, two skelly heads, two zombie heads and some skelly and zombie arms. You can probably trade with some other FG players to get any of those bits they did not use.

[ImperialMagnus]

Does anyone buy generic looking wizard mini's (or non specific one's at least) so they can change what type of wizard they are using for different campaigns?

How do heads attach to frostgrave soldiers/cultists? Wondering if I could get some skeletal heads online to replace normal ones with

[Digitarii]

FG heads use a ball/socket joint with the ball on the head and the socket on the body. You can use any heads you want. If they have a ball/socket joint, they should fit without an issue. if they use a flat join, you can fill in the socket joint with green stuff or even a shaving of sprue plastic to fill in the socket and glue the head down.

[ImperialMagnus]

FG heads use a ball/socket joint with the ball on the head and the socket on the body. You can use any heads you want. If they have a ball/socket joint, they should fit without an issue. if they use a flat join, you can fill in the socket joint with green stuff or even a shaving of sprue plastic to fill in the socket and glue the head down.

Cool beans, thanks muchly!

[Vidgrip]

Does anyone buy generic looking wizard mini's (or non specific one's at least) so they can change what type of wizard they are using for different campaigns?

Yes.  If you are not using North Star figures, it makes good sense to choose and paint wizard figures to be versatile.  Of course some people don't mind buying lots of figures and might enjoy the challenge of painting a Reaper figure to be "obviously a sigilist".  But I'm going generic.

[ImperialMagnus]

Do many people play without an apprentice? Use the extra starting gold to have higher tier warband members? Can apprentices be hired later on or do they have to be there from the start?

[Digitarii]

I don't know anybody locally that would start play without an apprentice. That would actually give your opponent an advantage in moving forward to get treasure since the phases are:

Wizard Phase
Apprentice Phase
Soldier Phase

On the Wizard phase, the Wizard and up to 3 soldiers within 3 " of him can activate. Same with the Apprentice phase, The Apprentice and 3 soldiers within 3" of the Apprentice. Anyone else activates on the Soldier phase.

Also, without the apprentice, you lose a spell caster and there will be times you're going to want that second spell caster to get a second chance at that spell or casting a second spell.

[ChaosChild]

Plus, if my warband's anything to go by the apprentice will be the more competent spellcaster. Or at least that's what the dice would have me believe.