Frostgrave – Newbie help

[jjgrubb 2726xp 1]

Frostgrave is a game Ive watched for a long time but never pulled the trigger on… Until now or soon anyway. When Ghost Archipelego was announced my eyes only looked closer…ish

Two nights ago my real life friends brought up the subject of being interested and I completely jumped on board with the idea (because its all I needed.) But Ive now realised I have massive questions, now obviously theres a new edition to the main game.
And apparently there CAN be cross over between the two but how hard is it to mix the two? Is it just an all over bad idea? I mean I realise jungle bases might look a little silly on an ice board for example and vice versa but I wouldnt mind it.

Im thinking at the very least I start with the main book for both…. MAYBE one expansion each?
Thaw of the Lich King?
then Im not sure which for GA maybe the Fire gods one I kinda like the idea of making my own tribe.

[avernosKeymaster 33467xp 1]

The new edition is still the same core as 1st ed. Tidy up, tweaks and FAQs blended in so anything that is currently out there is fully compatible with it still.

Frostgrave and Ghost both share the same rules so crossover games are possible, Frostgrave works on a mage and apprentice with a crew to fetch carry and fight. GA are superhero like descendants like demi gods, raiding the islands, they can have mages in their crews.

You may find some combinations from one book may run roughshod over some from the other. The only way to discover what works for your group is to get stuck in.

Thaw is a great campaign to grab some new npcs for fighting and new soldiers to recruit as well. I’ve not looked at GA enough to be able to help on that one though.

Grab the core rules at least and get stuck in, you can really go nuts with your crews and source minis from wherever you like to get some great stuff on the tabletop.

[jjgrubb 2726xp 0]

“you can really go nuts with your crews and source minis from wherever you like to get some great stuff on the tabletop.”

Oh yeah my minds already going nuts, Im trying really hard not to buy any mini’s yet and just get the rules first.

[phaidknott 7012xp 1]

All of the expansions work with second edition with a few minor tweaks (the tweaks are in the 2nd Edition Rule book). The ONLY expansion/accessory that doesn’t work with 2nd Edition is the “Grimoire” (pre printed spell cards), but the new ones are available for download at the Osprey website.

https://ospreypublishing.com/gaming-resources-frostgrave

Of the expansions Thaw of the Lich King (Undead Foe), Forgotten Pacts (Barbarian Foe),  and Breeding Pits (Gnoll Foe) are probably the best of the bunch (as they are themed against a common foe in each book, so you don’t need as many monsters and you can buy them inexpensively as the official plastics if you don’t have suitable models or a proxy available).

2nd Edition does slightly more than just being a “clean up”. The new rules on warband creation stops the gimmick “all archer” warbands (instead you can only have a maximum of 4 specialists that include things like archers or treasure hunters). Now Thugs and Thieves are free (common cannon fodder), so that you’ll never be stuck being unable to field a full strength Warband should you get wiped out in previous games. Spells have had a rework, so that some are no longer auto pick, and spells not commonly used before might now have better utility.

Finally the experience system has been reworked to favour you Warband doing other things than just killing each other (some of these rules were taken from later expansions.

The Northstar plastics are great fun for kitbashing (if you’re into the hobby side of things), and they do a VERY nice range of metals for the specialists in each Warband (Cultists, Gnolls, Barbarians etc). The hardest thing is building up a menagerie of models for the wandering monsters (from Frost Giants and Snow Apes).

Hope this little helps, it’s a dangerous path to go down, as you’ll soon be buying lots of Minis for the game (the Northstar metals are both “retro” in theme and this takes you back to your younger days. But the plastics are a fine start point and the new plastic Wizard boxes allow you to build a Wizard from any of the schools (plus apprentices). So a Wizard Box and a Soldiers box will get you started, and then plastics for Undead, Gnolls, Cultists and Barbarians have you covered for each of the scenario books (so perhaps one person in your group could buy the expansion and the plastics for that expansion?)

Not quite sure which expansion features all the Cultists (I think it’s Lich Lord)

Hope this little helps

 

 

[osbad 4277xp 1]

Damn!  I thought this was a post about a new game involving partying amphibians.

Hey ho.

[jjgrubb 2726xp 1]

@osbad – haha I hadnt even noticed the error.. Err i mean what error, it was also typed that that… honest.. No it doesnt say it was edited, you just imaged that…

 

@phaidknott – The clean up has definately come at a good time it was one of the reasons why I finally chose this time to get in, the reviews Ive looked at made it pretty clear its more of a reclear than a remake of the game like so many others have tended to do. Between us Im pretty sure we have enough stand ins for any monster we’d want honestly, one of my mates hasn a giant bones collection (which im sure is all in boxes somewhere knowing him haha)

I’ll defiantely be building a crew from scratch but thats only because I want to. But Im not sure which direction Im going yet personally. And by scratch I mean new minis not scupting, I fear green stuff in all its forms..

[avernosKeymaster 33467xp 1]

@jjgrubb I plan on my frostgrave warband coming via studio miniatures medieval mayhem

[jjgrubb 2726xp 0]

@avernos – you are an evil evil man how can you do this to me, showing me miniatures that I now MUST OWN..
Oh my lord I thankyou so much this is magnificent…

[avernosKeymaster 33467xp 1]

if it’s any help I have about half so I need to complete the set still, I feel your pain

 

[jjgrubb 2726xp 1]

Using hero forge I have reimagined a younger version of my DnD worlds big bad to be my Necromancer 😉

 

[jjgrubb 2726xp 1]

Edited: I think I might be happy now…

This gentleman is also based on an old villain, the original red herring of the DnD world who appeared to be taking control only to get stabbed in the back by the person who was following him. The original character wasnt actually a Necromancer but given my Wizard is that I needed to change.

So with the original story my two characters here were following the big bad, this guy very much the out spoken and confident one who’d clearly been groomed to take the big bads place however. Eldar had been biding his time, stabbed this guy in the back and combined his power with his own and didnt just take over but he’s one villain who actually won… For a while anyway..  So fun to base a crew around one of my own stories and see how it plays out.

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