So I have been looking at Frostgrave for some time now, another fantasy skirmish game to tempt gamers to part with their monies. I am a lover of skirmish games, and a veteran of GW’s Mordheim and LOTR. In more recent years I have played more historical based games but I have been intrigued by Frostgrave and thought although I don’t necessarily have anyone lined up to play with I thought I would give this ago.
So what is it that appealed to me? Well first of all Frostgrave is a skirmish campaign driven game - probably my favourite type of game. It relies heavily on the use of magic, I have never been into magic not even in fantasy games (My first love in Warhammer were Dwarfs) So having to use magic I thought might be an interesting feature then last of all it’s the snow, the ice the frosty stuff. I have always shied away from snowy scenery, it’s hard to pull off, so I quite fancied the challenge. There’s another important challenge for me - Don’t make this look like Mordheim. If it I use Mordheim figures and Mordheim scenery I may as well play Mordheim.
So what have I done so far? Well I went on the Oldhammer Trading Company, sold some old stuff made a few quid so I have ordered a bunch of toys and some books. Northstar rushed me the rulebook, the collection of short stories and a bunch of figures.
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| Part of my starter bundle |
First impressions then… Well I like the figures, the hard plastic soldiers are great, lots of possibilities there. The pewter wizards are nice too. Pretty sure I will be buying more of those. The rules look pretty straightforward and will lead to fast games. Nicely presented, in a full colour hardback. I do have some reservations however my biggest one being the almost complete lack of background, with the exception of the blurb on the back cover and the foreward we really get very little insight into what the frozen city of Felstad, now Frostgrave looks like. What Frostgrave is lacking is a world. Getting into Mordheim for most of its players was easy, the Warhammer World was rich and had its own history, we knew much of what was around and what things should look like. Likewise Lord Of The Rings, came with one of the most detailed worlds ever created and a few minor film projects which helped as source material. Frostgrave doesn’t have that, and I am not sure why. It might be that they wrote loads of stuff and they couldn’t fit it in and there’s loads to come (there is the Thaw of the Liche Lord supplement on the way in November); it might be that they have deliberately left Frostgrave lacking in background so players can create their own; or it might be just be laziness on the part of the writers. I reckon it’s probably a mix of 1 & 2. What ever is the case I am thoroughly looking forward to a foray into a completely new game for me. Next time the Frostgrave plan, until then some of my new figures ...
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| 3 of the Frostgrave soldiers, with the odd addition. |
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| 3 more Frostgrave plastics (on the left is my Apothecary) |
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| 2 Wizards and and their apprentices |
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| 2 more wizards and Apprentices |
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| Wizards from Casting Room Miniatures |
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| 3 Adventurers from Casting Room and an Oldhammer Dwarf |
