What is the appeal of Frostgrave

[Achilles]

Too me the appeal is in the absolute freedom Frostgrave brings. I grew up against a background of Baldur's Gate, Warhammer Fantasy and Mordheim. All things I loved about those games I see back on the tabletop. I actually wasn't 100% sold until I saw the beautiful batreps from Ash and actually ordered the book. I like how organized it all is, but in essence is no more then a set of guidelines. For me personally, I feel any competative player can ruin any game, especially when it's not restrictive in nature. So far Frostgrave has brought me out of a very deep hobby hiatus back into modelling (with a lot of pleasure I might add).

This game basically brought me & my friends back to gaming after GW ruined 40K & WHFB!

It was the great videos produced by Ash @ Guerilla Miniature Games & Owen @ Gaming with the Cooler that hooked me and the rest is history as they say.

We love the simplicity of rules and the complexity of the strategy. We love the role playing style of the game and how our models are starting to build a life of their own and how each battle becomes another part of the story!

I'm now inspired and have been modelling, building terrain and painting like a daemon!

As a group we've introduced a few minor house rules to nerf the "killer" wizard issue but that's part of the appeal of the rule set - you can make it your own and it doesn't matter that my version of the game is slightly different to yours!

Lots of love in here. Thanks gents.

I think the appeal of Frostgrave is that, in a climate and industry that has in the last couple of decades obsessed about providing a 'Game Experience' over telling a story, Frostgrave is anachronistic. It's fast and loose and gives you the elbow room to tell a story or have an adventure, or just roll dice for an evening. There's a certain age group of us that I think remember SOMETHING like this hazily in our pasts that are inwardly delighted to put our toy dudemens on the table and have each of them maybe be the hero of the evening.

I'll say one thing, I've played and recorded almost 500 games in the last two years. Most i've enjoyed. Some have been exceptional. I can remember maybe a dozen 'contemporary' games I've played in that time.

I can remember every single crazy happening in a Frostgrave game since I started playing it. I can remember the names of all my heroic little soldiers.

Don't know what that means, if anything. But it makes me fond of the game. Fond of the little histories it's brought to my gaming experience.

Certainly not for everyone, but definitely a bit punk-rock in the current climate of 'competition gaming' the e-sports generation is addicted to.

[November]

To me, the appeal of Frostgrave is about nostalgia. It has an appealing visual image (the ruined, wintry city full of buried secrets, ancient magic rekindling) which tickles my fond memories of D&D. I was very excited about it in the start. But I gotta tell that after playing some games, I mostly agree with the first poster. The rules are too early-in-development to play as such, with all the random factors (too random is just too random), broken spells and so on. With heavy house-ruling, they can be made tolerable, but that's an awful lot of tweaking when I could just play Mordheim with less trouble.

That said, I still do enjoy the magic and treasure hunting focus of Frostgrave as well as the extended use of NPC monsters. I still happily play it, but if I have to choose from Mordheim and Frostgrave, I would pretty much always go for the first.

[Mo!]

I humbly disagree, rules are way more straightforward than Mordheim (i love mordheim but there is always room for arguments)

I love the straightforwardness and i just love everything about Frostgrave... i could use some more fluff though...

[Malebolgia]

Me and my mate started playing Frostgrave a year ago when it was new, fresh and there was a lot of buzz around it. Back then it never clicked. We didn’t really like that soldiers were fodder, the way the D20 works and how spells can dominate the game. So after 2 games we stopped playing.

But three months ago I watched one of Achilles’ reports and something sparked…me and my mate started chatting about Frostgrave (go Telegram!) and within a week I had obtained all of the expansion books. I watched more of Achilles’ game reports and damn…I WANTED TO PLAY THE GAME AGAIN!
So went back in, and started with the Dark Alchemy campaign. But now we knew the D20 mechanics, how to treat our soldiers and we picked a better list of spells (so not just the good spells, also the cool spells). And starting with Dark Alchemy was perfect as it forces you to work together and create the story together. It helped us find the right mindset in playing. After the campaign we started with the Lich Lord campaign and we are still having a blast! Each scenario unfolds like a story with lots of great moments. For example, in one of our games the Elf Captain was surrounded by several of my soldiers. He chopped down 3 before he went down…and it turned out he was killed. Such an epic story!
We don’t play all rules by the book (for example, no XP for killing models except for wizards and apprentices, casting spells just give +25XP) but use most of the optional rules. Are they balanced? Heck no! But they add so much fun. Rolling a 20 is now something to remember. I can remember most moments where I either one-shotted a model or one of mine was one-shotted.
And very important, it allows me to use and paint almost every fantasy model I own. I can mix and match miniatures the way I want to, zillions of options of creatures…perfect for a hobby squirrel like me.

So summarizing, what’s the appeal? For me:
-Easy rules;
-Lots of options;
-Lots of treasures to be found;
-Epic moments;
-Easy to turn a game into a story with all the random things going on;
-It allows me to use almost all of my fantasy models the way I want to.

But to enjoy it with a group I think everybody should be on the same level. Don't go for the best spells and options, but go for the cool stuff and build a story. If you and your mates enjoy that together, it is a fantastic game.

[Hammers]

The appeal of Frotgrave is simplicity. Ask a father who is gently ushering his children into the world of miniature table top games.

[Katsuhiko JiNNai]

I was considering to play Frostgrave too, because one of my players suggested it, then we played one scenario and he lent me is rulebook to read. As someone before me already written, I was doubtful about the 20 dice system, in fact they are usually really unpredictable. However this is not a big problem for me. The rules are really simple, so create a warbad is easy and fast. However I don't like too much the design of the book (too modern for my taste ), the limit of using only wizards and their apprentices as leaders of the warbands, no big creatures (like minotaurs) available (with the exception of golems and demons) and no mounts.
I like to play with oldhammer miniatures, then I was looking for a generic game suitable to play all or almost all my vintage miniatures. I think Frostgrave it could be fine for the players that want to play its background (the wizard and their quest in the lost frozen magic city) and like a fast and easy skirmish game, but if somebody need more choices for his warbands, it could give some problems. For these reasons actually I'm considering Advanced Song of Blades & Heroes, it has an oldhammer look and I could use all types of leaders, monsters and mounts.
Anyway, we will begin a Frostgrave campaing soon, then I could change my idea... mostly if the other players will want to play only with Frostgrave of course

[Gabbi]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but you can check alternatives to Frostgrave, for campaign driven games, such as Rack and Ruin (that seems to have a strong RPG feel) or Star Struck City, by Mantic, that pays tribute to both Mordheim and Frostgrave.
First one is sold on WargameVault and is often offered at discount: http://www.wargamevault.com/product/147673/Rack--Ruin-Core-Rulebook
Second one is free to download: https://ironwatch.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/the-star-struck-city-deluxe-edition/

[derskusmacher]

Just a bit of a clarification but Star Struck City wasn't written by Mantic. It's a player made system heavily influenced by the Kings of War rule set.

There has been rumblings of an official Mantic skirmish system though.

[dinohunterpoa]

Today I played my first few games of Frostgrave, I had several warband that I had started painting and was really looking forward to it. But I hated it, I felt it had no tactical depth, gameplay is completely ruled by the dice rolling,  and the experience/treasure gathering in campaign mode is completely unbalanced

Elysium, I totally agree with you, but I think the game has 5 things that may explain something:

- Great game-specific miniatures: just buy them, paint and play! But the game also has a huge space for converting and using whatever suits you - a very strong point IMHO.
 
- Modelling-friendly setting (easier to make a set of frozen ruins than a Victorian London district, for example). But again, the game can be customized to be played in almost any scenery.

- Story-driven.  

- The "kill them all + strong magic + get the treasure" idea can be appealing to both younger players and to grizzled D&D nostalgic gentlemen.

- Northstar's GREAT customer service and marketing!  

[Koyote]

I was considering to play Frostgrave too, because one of my players suggested it, then we played one scenario and he lent me is rulebook to read. As someone before me already written, I was doubtful about the 20 dice system, in fact they are usually really unpredictable. However this is not a big problem for me. The rules are really simple, so create a warbad is easy and fast. However I don't like too much the design of the book (too modern for my taste ), the limit of using only wizards and their apprentices as leaders of the warbands, no big creatures (like minotaurs) available (with the exception of golems and demons) and no mounts.

Frostgrave's Sellsword supplement provides rules for Captains, who are special type of soldier. Unlike other soldiers in the game, you get to choose your Captain's weapons and armor. Moreover, a Captain can carry up to 5 items (weapons and armor each count as an item), so like a Wizard or Apprentice, you can equip your Captain out with multiple magic items.  Captains begin with two 'tricks of the trade.'  Each is a small buffs that can be used by the Captain, once per game. Examples of 'tricks of the trade' include Steady Hand (+3 Shoot for one attack) and Brace (+3 Armor for one attack).  Captains also have a special Group Activation rule which lets a Captain group activate with one friend solider within 3".   Finally, like Wizards, Captains gain experience which can be used for stat increases or spent to acquire additional 'tricks of the trade.'

So, while a warband must include a Wizard, players who prefer fighty-characters can also include a Captain.  And even though the rules suggest that your Captain is subservient to your Wizard, you are certainly free to tell your own warband's story anyway you want.  Perhaps the two are equal partners in this venture or perhaps the Captain has hired the Wizard to serve as advisor and magical muscle.  It's completely up to you.

With regards to the lack of big beasties in your warband, you are limited by only some die rolls and your own imagination.  If you want a Minotaur or an Ogre in your warband, give your Wizard the Animal Companion spell and use a Minotaur model as a counts-as bear.  If you want different stats then you can use Animate Construct or Summon Demon to create your counts-as creature. 

One of Frostgrave's greatest strengths is its flexibility.