Frostgrave – First blood

Given how simple Frostgrave looks one could think: this is easy to get into!

Which it probably is unless you are like me and just think way too much about stuff. That is why I already have:

• an icy map 90x90cm
• a complete set of ruins build and painted
• enough build and painted minis for at least three wizards with apprentice and soldiers.
• painted and ready to go objective markers.

What my brain wouldn’t let me do:

• build a warband.

UNTIL TODAY!

I didn’t do anything special but grab the rulebook and finally make a list. But not just one but two because if I want to game with my buddy I need a second warband. And he doesn’t own the rules.

Warband creation

Let’s not go wild and keep it simple. A necromancer, that feels right. Also this means I will use a thaumaturg as his opponent.

Add an apprentice.

Both get a weapon, a staff, a dagger, a crossbow and quiver.

This is both wizards almost done. Now for spells. How do I choose spells if I never played the game and I want to keep it “balanced and fair”?

Easy! Use dice, pray to Nuffle and hope for the best. The three spells from their own school of magic and the three from allied schools are a simple throw of D8. The last two spells from the 5 remaining schools are done with D6 (re-roll any 6) and then a D8.

Bish bash bosh. Done. Well accept that I had to re-roll two spells because they only came into play between sessions.

Now for soldiers. There is 300 gold left so I’ll take two Man at Arms, three infantry and three thugs. 8 dudes for the slaughter.

Last part: what will be playing? I’m taking some advice I’ve read on the interwebs which sounded ok: The mausoleum. Just skellibobs and looting. That should be enough for a first step into Frostgrave.

Did I forget anything? Am I missing anything? Also: if there is a working generator for warbands I’d be happy to know. I found two and both are not really working any more and seemed to be abandoned 3 years ago.

If I find the time at work I’ll use the company software to fill out the warbands so you can have a look at them. If not I will not show you my crappy hand writing. Until then: stay frosty!

So last night we had our first game. It was enjoyable. Getting to terms with how to calculate damages etc still is a bit weird but we managed.

We had fun though I forgot to bring a measuring device. I had thought about bringing one a few hours before but then forgot.

What we learned:

• Having the magic spells on cards is handy. Digging through the book takes time. I think I will infest in the cards.
• more minis needed. Yes, just going by the numbers I have enough but I like WYSIWYG in minis and for that some more minis are needed.
• more treasure tokens needed. Simple as that.

How it ended:

We played for roughly 2 hours with a set time to end on. When the time came technically it was a draw. Neither of us had secured a treasure. But I had lost my apprentice and picked up one treasure (of 6) and was on my way to the edge of the table and Karsten had picked up three and was on his way with no casualties on his side. It’s likely that he would have won this game 4:2 because he was contesting one treasure with me.

But it was fun. And that’s the most important part.

Last night we played our (for now) last game of Frostgrave 2nd Edition. Over the course of almost 7 months we played ~15 of the scenarios from the core book.

We both lost our wizards in the last two games (because we got too cocky) and so we decided “It’s the end of the year. Next game will be January 8th 2026. Let’s call it a day and play something different.”

So after many games of Star Wars: Legion (V1), Classic Battletech and not Frostgrave (V2) we will (probably) start something new in 2026.

I didn’t take many pictures, I took some, but I can’t find them at the moment. If I find them I will place them here.

Final verdict: Frostgrave is a really fun game with lots of replay value even with just the core rule book. Most of the time we where done within 2 – 2.5 hours and that includes setting up the board, playing, calculating results, level up wizards and pack everything away again. You can’t get much faster with a relaxing game IMHO.

If you where ever on the brink of “should I buy into Frostgrave?” and you have only one person who’s willing to play against you: do it! It really is that fun and easy to learn. (But bloody hard to master XD)

9/10 – Would play again!

[Not a 10/10 because you really need a lot of weird terrain if you want to have it looking all nice. We got away with one set of City Ruins from Kromlech and various bits and bobs]