Frostgrave at Broadsword 4

Post author:Jacob Stauttener
Post published:August 28, 2017
Post last modified:October 14, 2018
Post category:Battle Reports / 28mm / 32mm / Cigar Box Battle / Convention / Frostgrave / North Star Military Figures / Osprey Games / Six Squared Studios / XOLK

This past weekend, I had the pleasure to attend the Broadsword 4 Convention in Hamilton, Ontario. It was an enjoyable event, and there I ran another demo game of Frostgrave.

Frostgrave with an Archipelago and Cthulhu theme

It may look wrong because it is on the beach instead of in snow, but this is Frostgrave at Broadsword 4. This was done in anticipation for Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago.

For this game, I gave players access to the same six warbands as what we used for Broadsword 3 and Hotlead. For those interested, below are quick write-ups and pictures of those warbands. All of the Wizards are level 20.

I modified the Worm Hunt scenario from the core rule book for this event. Players received no points for killing each other, but received points for carrying treasure off the board, killing wandering barbarians, killing Giant Worms (there were three of them), killing an even bigger Worm and killing a Ginormous Worm. Double points are awarded for “controlling” a creature and walking it off the board. For statistics, the Giant Worms counted as Giant Worms, The Bigger Worm (which was my Frost Wyrm) used the statistics of a Giant (but counts as an Animal), and the Ginormous Worm used the statistics of one of the named demons from Forgotten Pacts.

In anticipation for Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago, I changed the setting from a frozen wasteland to a beach front using my new Double-Sided Cigar Box Battle Mat.

Frostgrave Archipelago like table using the original Frostgrave Rules

The gaming table for my latest Frostgrave Demo. Looks pretty good to me!

To get the mat this size, I folded it in half and we decided that the ocean part of the mat was impassable terrain. If you are curious about the terrain on this table, please check out the terrain section of my Reviews Page.

Now, let’s get on with the actual game.Four players came to join me on this adventure, and they each selected a Warband. At the table, we had a Beast Crafter, a Summoner, a Thaumaturge, and a Necromancer.

A Frsotgrave Archipelago type setup - Beast Crafter

The Beast Crafter’s Warband.

The Summoner’s Warband.

The Thaumaturge’s Warband.

The Necromancer’s Warband.

Immediately, each group rushed to the nearest treasure markers to investigate whether it was treasure or a Worm. We used barrels as treasure markers this time. The players found the Worms very early in the game.

It was the Thaumaturge’s Warband that stumbled upon the Ginormous Worm. This creature had an effect of slowing down time, so everyone within a foot lost an action per turn.

The Thaumaturge’s Warband discovered the Ginormous Worm. With just one action a turn, the player piled in all of his melee fighters with the intention to assault the Worm on his next turn.

Running a Demo Game of Frostgrave at a Local Convention

The look of the action from a distance. The table currently has two Giant Worms and one Ginormous Worm.

While the Thaumaturge found the worm, it was the Necromancer’s party that killed the worm. His ranger hit the worm hard with a critical strike from his bow and arrow. Immediately, one of his spell-casters followed up that attack with a powerful Bone Dart, killing the beast (thereby stealing all of the points for killing the Ginormous Worm).

The Thaumaturge then used his next turn to investigate the second large creature marker.

The Thaumaturge’s fighters and Necromancer’s Golem investigate the second large objective.

Else where on the table, 12 barbarians enter the battle. Three from each of the players’ deployment areas. Not a good thing for the Necromancer’s warband who had a skeleton nearly leaving the mat with a barrel of treasure!

Frostgrave Skeletong comes across some Barbarians.

An exiting skeleton comes face-to-face with a band of three Barbarians. This treasure would not be coming off the table.

The game continued for just a little longer. At the start of the game, it was stated that anyone that “mind controlled” a worm or took it over with the proper “control” or “bind” (the Ginormous Worm counted as a Demon, the others as Animals) and walked the creature off the table would get double points. The Beast Crafter managed to do this with one of the Giant Worms.

Unfortunately, we came to a point where two of my players had to leave. Below is how we ended the game.

A great game of Frostgrave set on a beach.

A picture of the end of the game. On the Bottom left, there was a Worm exiting the battlefield. It was close enough to exiting that we gave the Beast Crafter points for walking the “controlled” creature off of the board. It is also interesting to note that the final searched treasure brought a Giant to the table as a wondering creature.

On the bottom left, one of the participants was playing with the texture of the gaming mat and created herself a “field” for her leader’s hut.

The Necromancer won the game for killing the Ginormous Worm. The Beast Crafter scored second for walking a Worm off the table.

Overall, I had a lot of fun hosting this game. One huge complement that I got from one of the players was that this was the best game of Frostgrave that he ever played. That was very nice to hear.

I hope that everyone enjoyed this quick report of the Frostgrave game that I demoed at Broadsword 4. Thanks goes out to Osprey Games for being such a big supporter of the site and to Cigar Box Battle for sending me a preview of their Double-Sided Kickstarter Gaming Mat.It was a pretty neat to take a product currently on Kickstarter to a local gaming convention. In fact, we used both sides of the mat! My buddy, Dave, ran a Bolt Action table before my game and all we had to do was flip the mat over and add slightly different terrain to make it go from a World War Two town to a Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago type setting.

The second side of the Cigar Box Battle Mat, used for a game of Bolt Action at the same convention.

Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!

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