Review: The Frostgrave Folio

Osprey Publishing was kind enough to send Must Contain Minis an Advanced Copy of The Frostgrave Folio.

The Cover of The Frostgrave Folio. Image from Osprey Publishings’ webstore.

As many of my readers know, much of what is in the Frostgrave Folio is a republishing of the digital (PDF) mini-expansions; however, there is also an extra mini-expansion added to the Folio. Must Contain Minis has reviewed four of the five mini-expansions in earlier articles. For the sake of simplicity, I will quickly summarize each expansion below and provide links to the earlier reviews.

Before looking at the actual mini-expansions, let’s discuss what is different. The first thing that owners of the PDFs will notice about the new book is the artwork. This book has tons of fantastic new images. Check out these pictures!!!!

This type of artwork was completely absent from the PDF expansions. I believe it adds a lot of value to the book.

Some more fantastic artwork from the Frostgrave Folio.

The artwork is superb and the Folio gives great treatment to the mini-expansions that we already know and love. While the Folio is a total of 72 pages, it is much thinner than the binder that I have been using for my printed PDFs. It is also much sleeker than my PDF printouts.

The Frostgrave Folio is much slimmer than the binder that I have been using for the PDF expansions.

A look at the PDFs (on the left) vs. the Folio (on the right). The Folio looks so much nicer.

For those coming to this site not knowing what is in the Frostgrave Folio, it contains five mini-expansions. These expansions include The Hunt for the Golem, Sellsword, Dark Alchemy, Arcane Locations and The Ravages of Time. Of these expansions, it is The Ravages of Time that is new to the game.

The Ravages of Time was not exactly what I was expecting. I was hoping for a mini-campaign with some extra rules to make the Chronomancer more effective (or at least new magical items or spells that would interest a Chronomancer player). Instead, The Ravages of Time offers readers a gripping ten-page adventure without new content for use outside of the Campaign. That said, I found the concept of the adventure and special rules unique to the scenario quite intriguing. It is semi-cooperative in that there is a big “boss” at the end that the players really need to work together to defeat and come out alive. Overall, it is a fascinating read that had me turning the pages quickly to find out what would happen next. The special rules unique to the scenarios really get me excited about the game. This one should be a blast to play.

The Hunt for the Golem is the first pdf-expansion by Osprey Publishing for Frostgrave. It is a fun adventure with a handful of new magical items. These new items are of interest to Wizards that utilize Enchanter Spells. If you want to read more about this expansion, I wrote a Review about it earlier and published a complete play-through Battle Report of the campaign.

Sellsword is my favourite of the pdf-expansions. It offers rules for a new Soldier type. This new soldier type is the Captain and he (or she) gains experience like a Wizard. It also presents a campaign where Magic plays a lesser role. I use the optional Sellsword rules in all of my Frostgrave games. Check out the Review I wrote about it earlier.

Dark Alchemy is my second favourite of the expansions in this book. It provides a campaign that can be played solo or cooperatively, overhauls the “Brew Potion” rules, and provides new potions for players to brew and to find as treasure. Check out the earlier Review for more details on this expansion.

Arcane Locations is a neat expansion that brings with it scenarios with specific scenery requirements. This is a good one for Terrain building enthusiasts that want to build something different or have an excuse to use a unique piece of Terrain. It also gives rules for some new Base Resources. For a more detailed Review of this piece, check out my earlier Review of the PDF.

To recap, The Frostgrave Folio comes with the four previously released electronic-mini-expansions and a new mini-campaign called The Ravages of Time. Personally, I find the Ravages of Time expansion very intriguing. Joseph and Osprey opted not to add any new special rules to the Ravages of Time that would be used outside of the Campaign. This exclusion is kind of nice as it does not penalize owners of the PDFs that do not wish to buy The Frostgrave Folio.

My take on The Frostgrave Folio is that it is totally worth a purchase. For people that already own the PDFs, the Folio gives the same content in a much better package and brings a new campaign into the mix. For those that don’t own the PDFs, The Frostgrave Folio is an excellent way to get some really cool advance rules that add depth to the game.

While Osprey sent me an Advanced Copy of The Forstgrave Folio, I also bought a copy through North Star Military Figures. I purchased this second book for the value added extras that North Star was offering during their “Nickstarter” campaign.

Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!

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