Absence (makes the heart grow fonder?)
Wow! It seems like forever since I wrote anything on this blog. Safe to say that the Mordheim campaign ran out of steam and died (thanks largely in part to the discovery of a myriad of games in the meantime and also my shoddy recordkeeping).In the intervening time I have somehow accumulated enough scenery to two 6'x4' boards! I could really do with a bigger car (or a TARDIS, that would be handy) and the club has grown to encompass many more game systems. We now regularly play Dropzone Commander, Guild Ball, Malifaux, Secret Hitler and a variety of board games alongside the 40k and WHFB that the club started with.
On the plus side the games we play every fortnight have become really diverse, especially with such a small group, but the flip side of this is that arranging games and getting everyone co-ordinated is problematic. Not good for campaigns methinks.....
This evening I am going to attempt to revive the campaign elements at the club by introducing Frostgrave.
What is Frostgrave?
Frostgrave is a skirmish game set in the frozen city of Felstad. Players create a Wizard and use 500 gold crowns to hire a band of looters/explorers/thugs with which to explore the ruined city. So far, so Mordheim-y.The main way in which it differs is the tracking and development of the warbands. The maximum size of a warband is 9 members (10 including the Wizard) which makes it extremely accessible to those beginning table-top gaming. The rulebook cost around £14 and encompasses everything needed to begin playing (bar the minis).
Compared to Mordheim, the focus is on your Wizard, with everyone else being a supporting character. What this means in practice is that tracking experience and stat gains is streamlined to a single character; much simpler and easier to remember. Since the focus is on this character, every henchman available for hire has fixed stats and wargear with a single slot for any additional gear. In comparison a Wizard has 5 slots allowing for a greater degree of freedom.
Whilst the Wizard can just hire non-magical underlings, there is the option to hire an apprentice (an option which I have taken). Apprentices allow you to take another magic user in your party, but since they are learning all spells are harder to cast. This addition allows you more tactics to employ as you can now split the warband and have two effective units. The apprentices stats are all based upon the Wizard's; if the Wizard is good at something, the apprentice will be as well.
With regards to henchmen the choices are really varied, and additionally all variations can be made from a single soldier box from North Star games (except the dog). This really brings value for money, especially since there are 20 potential soldiers in the box and the warband can only have 9 max.
If all goes well I will hopefully be posting more often with updates on how the campaign has been going and the big wins/losses we incur. If it works I could even begin a school club....
Until next time (when I will hopefully have a painted warband)
