The Silver Bayonet; A Perfect Mix Of Napoleonic History & Horror? | Frostgrave Creator Interview
December 14, 2021 by brennon
We chat with Frostgrave creator Joseph McCullough about how The Silver Bayonet is the perfect blend of Napoleonic history & horror. Are you enjoying Osprey Games' newest Gothic skirmish miniatures game?
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What do you make of the Napoleonic Gothic Horror of The Silver Bayonet? Do you like the changes of mechanics to suit the style of the game and the period? Is there a particular nationality that you're drawn to? Perhaps the werebears of the Russians have won you over!
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You can win yourself 1 of 3 bundles for The Silver Bayonet Week thanks to Osprey Games & North Star Military Figures. All you have to do is comment via OnTableTop, YouTube and you get an extra chance as a Cult Of Games Member.
OnTableTop - French Unit & Rulebook
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Comment on each of the videos and let us know which one of these collections have really caught your eye!
What do you like best about The Silver Bayonet so far?
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I love the idea of Captain Carruthers and his faithful Batman Winkins battling vampires by day and having port and cigars by night! 😉
I hope the Army of Piedmont is included
So much awesomeness right here!
The portability of this is quite astonishing. I’ve already seen someone port it to the Scanian War (in the 1670s), and I might just have to do two parallell collections now…
Mr M always fascinating. And damn do I want to create a table full of terrain. Now where did I put those Renedra gravestone sprues?
It appears that Os prey cannot ship to Ireland.
can’t ship to the EU
Presumably amazon can ship to ireland and they stock it.
Nice interview, good to hear about the where the idea came from and that there maybe plans for more in the future.
Looking around at potential Napoleonic miniatures when the game was first announced in March certainly got my imagination going, and I quickly settled on basing my Silver Bayonet collection around the Retreat from Moscow, mainly due to one excellent Perry Carabinier sculpt. I’m now busy working on wintery terrain whilst looking forward to the release of the Russian unit models.
I see dead people… oh wait, that’s just a dirty mirror… my bad
Love all Joe’s games, excellent rules writer
Joe’s rules are so versatile and open for tweaking during a game there’s never any danger of a dull one.
Really loving this game, and hope many more expansions are planned.
I just picked this up, can not wait to try it as I have a nice selection of horror and theme appropriate miniatures.
sounds a rich interesting world to play in.
Interesting idea. A Monster hunting skirmish game…I wonder if we will get to see some of those monstrous beings that they hunt?
Going directly to @avernos point about being in a sweet spot for historical settings, I could easily see the setting being in North America during the War of 1812 (think Battle of New Orleans, no vampires in New Orleans!), Texas War of Independence, the Seminole War or Mexican American War. You also have, potentially, French, British and Spanish forces as European forces in addition to the Native Americans, US, Canadian and Mexican forces. And there are plenty of legendary monsters and animals in Native American lore.
Good insight from the designer on the D20 to a D10 concepts. I like the mix up for the D10s. Plus I love plying Naps too…so painting up super-characters is a real treat for this game.
I wonder what historic eras will be next …
Surely there’s a way to do WW2, Vietnam or modern skirmish with a similar setup ?
Stargrave may be a bit too SF heavy to work, but Silver Bayonet lacks the gear …
Definitely gonna be interested rules wise.
He writes a good rule set generally.
Interested to see where it goes through the week.
Looking at the models will be a good one for me.
Not saying I am getting into this game but… When you are already kitbashing and painting I guess it’s over. Lol
https://www.beastsofwar.com/forums/topic/what-are-you-painting-now/
I love the look of Silver Bayonet. I am Hoping for a narrative linked campaign book.
So many ideas for a solo narrative campaign. I can see me raiding Free League’s Vaesen for inspiration when it comes to more European monstrous folklore foes.
I do like the concept, but not sure about napoleonic era…
As Al Murray would say… “Oi!!! No french!!!”
Looks like this is going to be another hit from Jo. I’m a sucker for a new dice mechanic!
It has a very “hammer house of horror” vibe.
I’m loving the versatility of the system. I see players modding it to fit their environments/eras from AWI through ACW, and beyond.
I like the idea of changing the setting. I was thinking of the British in India. Thugge for bandits and some Kali like demons
That would be great! I’d gladly see something from the Sikh wars
Really enjoy seeing “Joe Chat” again. I like the D10 rolling. I hobby between Fantasy and Historical and find it difficult sometimes to come back to one. This game would be a fun way to transition back to historical or fantasy depending on the scenario outcome.
Sigh, I keep finding more and more units I want to build!
On a hunt for figures to make a Romani group now…
Great to see Jo. I’m enjoying this series so far!
Interesting talk, even though I have a fair number of already painted minis for this already, nice to hear people are wandering off to other Black Powder Periods, I did wonder if anyone would do the Revolutionary wars and Sleepy Hollow with Headless Horseman type games.
It’s an interesting concept for a game. There is one downside, though. Namely, needing to now find dismounted Cuirassiers that match the beautiful ones made by perry (that aren’t british/french) or find some plastic lower torsos (hips & legs) so one can do some kit bashing rather than needing to pull out the jeweler’s saw after finding something reasonably close.
Perry plastic dismounted dragoons could give you the required legs…
Aye, they can work, but I’ll need to break out the aforementioned jeweler’s saw. Fortunately, they’re available separately via the perry webstore. Thanks for mentioning them, though.
Joseph’s output is crazy.
I can barely finish building and painting a miniature within the same year ?
Well, I’m sold.
It really is a perfect time period to set something like this in and so easy to transplant around different settings in order to have different mythological beasties to come across.
Once again Joseph McCullough’s games inspire me not only to pick up another skirmish game, but also to begin writing a roleplaying campaign that will sit unfinished and unplayed. His lore and worldbuilding always inspire me
Really liking the look of this game
Interesting and colorful period for the game to be set in,
Doh! dam you you book of intrigue and shiny stuff
Great interview!
That fella has been very busy with the writing stuff hasn’t he, sounds fun
Great gap in the market, but with plenty of models available to utilise/repurpose.
Love listening to Joe talk about his games, it really hypes me up for the games
Looking forward to getting a copy of this game. On my wishlist for the holiday season.
Cool game….looking forward to picking this up
I love the game but can’t help but feel the Hollywood approach McCullough picked – while it works great for the Napoleonic side of things – sells the folklore/gothic horror side a little short. In fantasy, it’s OK to detach the creature from its context and just plonk down werewolves and vampires left and right. I feel in a world inspired by the real one, they would have gained by being more “grounded” in the folklore… At least there’s the monster creation engine to fill in some blanks.
I’m a big fan of Joe’s work. He always seems to come across as a nice bloke too.
This looks a really nicely put together game.
I’ve never played any form of Napoleonics but this is soooo tempting given the supernatural element.
The Brothers Grimm with all its whimsy. Thank Gilliam for good inspiration.
Looks great, the game mechanics are well thought out and the aesthetic design is spot on.
Nice gamer and lovely figures there from North Star
interesting concept, will surely pick it up
I always enjoy interviews with Joe, even though I haven’t really found the time to play many of his games yet. Really nice to see the passion of a human being driving the desire for more gaming, rather than a product by committee. That love is infectious.
Yep, love this one and like the minis as well – even the box they come in is great and looks good on the bookshelf for storage as well.
I always enjoy interviews with Joseph. I’m absolutely amazed at the rate at which he pumps out book after book… and I want to buy them all!