Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago (2017)

[Landsknecht]

Looks like a Pirate themed Frostgrave game is coming out in the second half of this year.

http://therenaissancetroll.blogspot.com/2016/12/frostgrave-ghost-archipelago-2017.html

[manatic]

Looking forward to seeing what they come up with! I quite like many of the Frostgrave minis.

[FAB]

Is the new development going to have similar rules to Frotgrave, or completely new?

[steeldragon]

Similar... somewhere else it was stated that a warband from GA can go against a regular Wizard+Apprentice warband, but the rules of the XP winning guys would be different and that these kind of encounters won't necessarily be balanced, but base mechanics will be the same.

Andres

[Smith]

Andres is correct - the mechanics are entirely compatible, but Ghost Archipelago isn't just 'Frostgrave in the Jungle'. There are some magic users in there, but they're not (quite) your wizardy types, and the main characters are more Conan (or Drizzt, or Beowulf, or Aragorn) than they are Gandalf!

[Voyager]

Moreover, there will be also released an anthology of stories from the new setting (similar to Frostgrave's "Tales of the Frozen City").

[FAB]

Andres is correct - the mechanics are entirely compatible, but Ghost Archipelago isn't just 'Frostgrave in the Jungle'. There are some magic users in there, but they're not (quite) your wizardy types, and the main characters are more Conan (or Drizzt, or Beowulf, or Aragorn) than they are Gandalf!

So more of a party than magic users with hangers on.?

[SotF]

So more of a party than magic users with hangers on.?

I'm thinking it's more of a more martial archetype leader than a magical leader.

[kuba]

From what have been already told not only martial archetype, but also charismatic leaders with jedi-like mind tricks or nimble archers etc. -there will be list of special skills and creating a heritor player will have the option to chose few of them (if i remember the rumours correctly).

What I would like to hear more about the mechanics of the game is what will drive standard encounter -in some games it is just fight, wich is boring, in frostgrave it is treasure hunting, wich just don't work for me (usually people i tend to play with skip treasure hunting and choose to fight, as winner takes all the treasures anyway). Hopefully Ghost Archipelago will have something new, but even if not I suppose that there will be enough supplements with special scenarios to keep me interested for a long time :-)

[Smith]

I'm thinking it's more of a more martial archetype leader than a magical leader.

Sort of...

From what have been already told not only martial archetype, but also charismatic leaders with jedi-like mind tricks or nimble archers etc. -there will be list of special skills and creating a heritor player will have the option to chose few of them (if i remember the rumours correctly).

Correct - you can go full beatstick with the Heritor if you like, or you can opt for some of the more subtle powers. Or a mix of the two. Unlike Frostgrave Wizards, Heritors aren't limited in their power selections (except in terms of quantity) and can choose freely based on what kind of adventurer they want to be.

[giles the zog]

(usually people i tend to play with skip treasure hunting and choose to fight, as winner takes all the treasures anyway). Hopefully Ghost Archipelago will have something new, but even if not I suppose that there will be enough supplements with special scenarios to keep me interested for a long time :-)

This is wrong - read pages 44 & 47 of the main Frostgrave rulebook.
The "winner" whose war band is last on the board gains any unclaimed treasure tokens.
All treasure tokens taken off the board before the end of the game, are retained by that war band's wizard even if they "lost" the game.

So the balance of the game, is to get enough treasure off the board to make it worthwhile, before your war band gets trashed in combat/shooting etc and runs the risk of death and injury. Of course, the more minions you get off the board with treasure, the less minions there are to fight the opposition...

In some games we've played, it becomes obvious it's time to head off the hills in order to avoid getting a good caning from the opposite side. You might "lose" but you get to fight another day.

Alos, many scenarios have specific objectives aside from treasure, e.g. gaining Xp, like in the Well of Dreams & Sorrows.

[kuba]

Thats the way we have been playing it giles, but still most games ended in both sides choosing to fight. Even if one party was stronger game rules make quite possible for lowly thug to beat the knight, so why not try to. Running away was not considered an option for me, as I won't leave my wizard and apprentice without support of soldiers that carried treasures away, and also I won't carry away that treasuers with my characters for number of reasons (losing activation opportunities, chance to cast spells or gain XPs).

As You wrote, scenarios change a lot in that manner. For me it's one of the strong points of the game -not only because of fun of playing differently, but also the motivation to build special terrain pieces or paint some unusuall monsters. I'm glad that GA will follow the same course (first expansion: Lost Collosus is already announced).

I have a question about nickstarter, as I didn't follow any of the previous ones before and I didn't use before other crowdfunding methods. If the GA is scheduled in september this year, doeas it mean that the nickstarter starts in september and then its few months till the game gets released and sent for the backers? How long does it take for a product usually to be available after being sent for nickstarter backers? Is it possible that this autmun GA will be available for normal sell?

[Smith]

I have a question about nickstarter, as I didn't follow any of the previous ones before and I didn't use before other crowdfunding methods. If the GA is scheduled in september this year, doeas it mean that the nickstarter starts in september and then its few months till the game gets released and sent for the backers? How long does it take for a product usually to be available after being sent for nickstarter backers? Is it possible that this autmun GA will be available for normal sell?

Most importantly, it's not crowdfunding at all. The book and the figures are being produced, and will come out. A "Nickstarter" is simply North Star's pre-order campaign, and includes a few little perks for pre-order customers – free minis, special scenarios etc., and a small (normally a week or so) advance on the official release date.

GA is due out end of October, so I'd expect the campaign to run from end September or so.