This was the first Frostgrave game I have run and it took place over the Christmas holidays in a wintery village. We used the "Worm" scenario. Three groups of brave adventurers: Chronomancers warband, Dark Elf warband and a Thaumaturge warband went forward to seeks treasure and possibly glory if they chose to fight a giant worm. Then there was Father Christmas who did not do much.
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| Main bridge over the river, Father Christmas looks on. |
Thaumaturge: "The Clerics”: Friar Tuck (Mage), Brother Cadfael (Apprentice), Archer, Rangers; Barbarian, Thug, and 2 Warhounds
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| Thaumaturge warband |
Chronomancer: “First Born”: Wizard, Apprentice, 2 Rangers, 1 Barbarian.
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| Chronomancer warband |
Witch: “Dark Elves”: Sorceress, Apprentice, Crossbowman, Infantryman, Treasure Hunter, Ranger and Warhound.
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| Dark Elf Warband with Witch |
Illusionists: “Father Christmas” : Mage (Santa), Apprentice(Jack Frost), 1 Elf Archer with composite bow, 2 Elves with crossbows, 2 Elf Infantry with spears, 1 Animated Christmas tree (special infantry).
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| Illusionists Father Christmas and his warband |
Overview: a village with a large mill, river and forests on the outskirts.
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| overview |
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| The Mill |
Objective: gain treasure, of which there are 9 of them scattered through village and woods and if a giant worm appears survive and / or kill it.
Turn 1
The Dark Elf Sorceress advances towards the bridge with an infantryman, crossbowman and ranger in tow and the Infantryman picks up one treasure. To her right he Apprentice’s group moves toward the river and the treasure hunter also picks up a treasure.
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| Dark Elf warband advances |
The Cleric's move Friar Tuck to the edge of the woods with a ranger plus an archer and attempts to cast a spell on the Dark Elf crossbowman near the bridge but misses.
The Apprentices with his Cleric group moves towards the Mill and begins to climb the outside of the building to gain the treasure atop the chimney.
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| Dark Elf group near the bridge |
The Apprentices with his Cleric group moves towards the Mill and begins to climb the outside of the building to gain the treasure atop the chimney.
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| Cleric group at the edge of the woods near a treasure |
The Chronomancer warband advances towards the village but gain no treasure.
The Father Christmas group seems absent minded and stands and does nothing.
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| Father Christmas warband |
Turn 2
The Chronomancer's warband moves his wizard near to the treasure and shoots a magic missile at the Dark Elf crossbowman and misses.
The Chronomancer's ranger fires at Friar Tuck and misses while the Barbarian moves to pick up a treasure.
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| Chronomancer fires a magic missile at the Dark Elf Archer, laser pointer. |
The Chronomancer's ranger fires at Friar Tuck and misses while the Barbarian moves to pick up a treasure.
The Dark Elf Sorceress tries to cast a spell on Friar Tuck and fails but the combined missile file of the ranger and crossbowman kill the Friar (Mage).
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| Friar Tuck shot down |
The Chronomancer’s Ranger fires at the Dark Elf treasure hunter and misses, the apprentice casts fog to screen her force.
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| Chronomancer's apprentice and ranger |
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| Fog screen |
The Dark Elf apprentice group then advances across the river using the Chronomancer's fog as a screen.
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| Dark Elf Sorceress and ranger near treasure |
The Cleric group climbs the Mill building and the archer shoots at the Chronomancer’s barbarian and does 5 points of damage.
The Thaumaturge's apprentice attempts to cast a spell but fails and suffers a wound.
The Cleric group in the woods now leaderless has its thug grab a treasure and carry it off.
The Clerics archer shoot at the Dark Elf sorceress causing her 7 wounds.
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| Thaumaturge thug grabs a treasure but their leader is dead |
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| Ranger in background fires on Dark Elf Sorceress / Witch, Dark Elf Ranger stands on the bridge. |
The Clerics sets their hounds on the Chronomancer's barbarian.
Once again the Father Christmas group is inactive.
Turn 3
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| Cleric's hounds advance on Chronomancers's group |
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| Barbarian: "Who let the Dogs out"? |
Once again the Father Christmas group is inactive.
Turn 3
The Dark Elf ranger shoots at the Cleric's rangers causing 2 wounds, the crossbowman fires and misses, while the Sorceress herself fires a poison dart spell at the Cleric ranger.
The Chronomancer's ranger shoots at the Cleric's warhound and does minor damage.
The Cleric group picks up treasure from a house and their apprentice shoots a blinding light spell at the “Chronomancer mage, blinding him.
The Dark Elf Apprentice moves nearer the river.
The Chronomancer’s apprentice’ groups picks up a treasure.
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| Chronomancer Apprentice picks up a treasure |
The Cleric Thug continues to move the treasure away into the woods. Meanwhile the Cleric ranger fires on the Dark Elf Sorceress but misses.
The Chronomancer’s crossbowman kills the Cleric's warhound , and his archer moves nearer a treasure.
The Father Christmas group seems absent minded and stands and does nothing.
Turn 4
The Chronomancer’s fog disappears, but his mage picks up a treasure. His barbarian kills another of the Cleric's warhounds.
The Chronomancer mage shoots a spell at the Thaumaturge ranger but misses.
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| Only one dog left |
The Chronomancer mage shoots a spell at the Thaumaturge ranger but misses.
The Dark Elf crossbowman hits the Cleric ranger but does no damage. Then the Dark Elf Sorceress casts a successful invisibility spell while she is on the bridge.
Meanwhile in a daring move the Dark Elf Ranger runs across the bridge in the open towards a third unclaimed treasure near the Cleric's forces.
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| Dark Elf Sorceress casting a spell |
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| The Dark Elf Ssorceress / Witch is now invisible |
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| Ranger in the background has gained a treasure |
The Chronomancer warband apprentice fails to cast a spell on his Dark Elf counterpart.
Then tnear the river he Dark Elf hound wounds the Chronomancer ranger.
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| Chronomancer ranger with treasure |
The Cleric's Apprentice uses a dispel spell to cancel the invisibility of the Dark Elf Sorceresses. [We later discovered this was against the rules as the dispel spell needs LoS and as the Sorceress was invisible there was no target to see so no LoS].
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| The Witch is visible again! In the background the Ranger can be seen grabbing a treasure after running across the bridge |
The Chronomancer’ ranger kills the Dark Elf warhound with an accurately shot arrow (he rolled 20!)
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| Chronomancer Ranger kills a Dark Elf Warhound |
The Cleric ranger shoots at and misses the Dark Elf sorceress.
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| Chronomancer Ranger shooting |
The Father Christmas group seems absent minded and stands and does nothing.
Turn 5 (or the turn of failed spells!)
The Chronomancer's archer begins the turn by firing an arrow at the Dark Elf sorceress but he misses and this makes the witch aware that she is "lit up like a Christmas Tree" on the raised bridge now that her invisibility cloak has been removed and she withdraws to her own side of the bridge.
The Thaumaturge ries to cast a leap spell to get closer to some loot but he fails
Next the Chronomancer apprentice attempts to fire an elemental bolt at the Dark Elf apprentice, who has crossed the river, but it back-fires on the caster who injures himself.
The Dark Elf Sorceress apprentice then tries to cast a curse spell on the Chronomancer ranger but it fails to work.
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| Dark Elf Apprentice and Treasure Hunter cross the river |
The Chronomancer barbarian then moves back to cover and his fellow warrior the ranger who picks up a treasure and joins him moving into cover behind a house.
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| Chronomancer Barbarian and Ranger |
Meanwhile the Dark Elf ranger has recovered a third treasure for his team and begins to move it back to the safety of the far side of the bridge, but the weight of the loot slows him down.
The Dark Elf infantryman is also carrying a treasure back to the edge of the board having hidden it in a house.
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| Dark Elf Ranger runs back across the bridge with the treasure |
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| Dark Elf Infantryman moves the treasure to safety |
All of a sudden the ground began to tremble as if an earthquake were underway and from between two of the houses a giant purple worm emerged causing a chimney to collapse near the Chronomancer's warband.
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| A giant purple worm emerges between 2 buildings, collapsing a chimney on nearby Chronomancer's warband troops |
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| Chronomancer's Ranger prepares to do battles a giant purple worm |
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Don't mess with this worm! |
Turn 6
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| Turn 6 |
Once again the Chronomancer fails to roll-off the blindness spell, while his ranger fails to wound the worm in combat.
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| The body of the thaumaturge’s Mage and the surviving Ranger to the left behind a tree |
The Dark Elf sorceress successfully heals her many wounds with aheal spell.
However the Chronomancer apprentice mage is less successful in his efforts as his energy bolt spells directed at the worm misfires and he injures himself.
However the Chronomancer apprentice mage is less successful in his efforts as his energy bolt spells directed at the worm misfires and he injures himself.
The Cleric's archer shots the Chronomancer's barbarian hiding between the house and the hedge, hitting and killing him. One of the Chronomancer's rangers is also a casualty.
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| Thaumaturge’s Apprentice Brother Cadfael looks on as the Cleric's archer fires. |
The Thaumaturge’s apprentice then teleports the treasure away from the dead barbarian.
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| Chronomancer is fine but his barbarian and ranger are down between the hedge and building |
The Chronomancer's other ranger engages the giant worm in combat firing an arrow at it that scores a hit but the damage is negligible.
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| ChronomancerRanger fires on the Purple Worm |
The Dark Elf Apprentice tries to cast a posses spell on her own ranger to speed him up but it fails and he continues his slow journey over the bridge. He eventually makes it to join the rest of the warband as they withdraw with their loot.
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| Dark Elf Ranger has almost lugged his treasure back across the bridge |
Meanwhile the duel between the Chronomancer ranger and the worm continues and the Clerics pull back their wounded ranger.
Turn 7
The Chronomancer mage still cannot shake off the effects of the blindness spell, and his ranger fires at the worm again hitting it, but once again the damage ins minimal.
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| Chronomancer Ranger in melee with the worm |
The Dark Elf sorceress tries another poses spell but it backfires and she suffers damage.
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| overview |
The Chronomancer apprentice then casts a petrify spell at the worm who is in combat with his own ranger but he misses and hits his own man. The worm is more successful in combat and wounds the Chronomater's ranger.
The Dark Elf apprentice then tries to cast a poison dart at the worm but it backfires and she suffers damage
The Thaumaturge’s apprentice teleports a treasure near his warband's barbarian who collects it and retreats away from the worm. Meanwhile Thaumaturge’s archer fires into the melee between the Chronomancer and the worm and misses.
The Dark Elves manage to get two treasures safely off the board on the other side of the bridge.
However the Chronomancer is still stuck in combat with the giant worm as the turn ends.
Turn 8
The Chronomancer mage is still blinded and his ranger's arrows do no damage to the worm. The Apprentice attempts to aid the ranger by entering the combat and is killed by the giant worm and the ranger takes more damage.
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| The Chronomancer apprentice is down, his ranger fights on. |
The Dark Elf sorceresses' heal spell backfires but she is safely out of danger. Her apprentice casts a poison dart spell at the worm and misses hitting the Chronomater's ranger who now only get's one action.
Meanwhile the Dark Elf ranger has made it across the bridge and is taking his treasure off the board.
The Thaumaturge’s apprentice heals himself with a spell and together with the Cleric archer and ranger move their treasures off the board.
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| The Dark Elf Ranger has escaped across the bridge to safety with this treasure |
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| Thaumaturge’s Archer and barbarian with treasure moving to safety |
The Chronomancer's ranger loses his unequal battle with the worm and is killed, the giant worm then moves on to find more food - The Chronomancer Mage and surviving ranger!
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| Turn 8, end of game: the Giant Worm seeks new food |
As it had for all the previous turns the Father Christmas league was inactive.
Summary:
Adding up the losses and gains:
Chronomancer / First Born
Casualties : apprentice, barbarian, 1 ranger.
No treasure (none retained due to death of characters)
Thaumaturge / Clerics
Casualties: Wizard (Friar Tuck), 2 warhounds
Treasures = 3
Witch / Dark Elves
Casualties: 1 warhound.
Treasures = 3
Illusionists / Father Christmas
Inactive = 0
It was a close completion between the Dark Elves and the Thaumaturge' (Clerics) warband but the Elves having taken less serious casualties were the winners. The Chronomancer suffered the worst fate, his brave / reckless decision to fight the giant purple worm did not pay off.
All players enjoyed the game and it moved relatively quickly as we got 8 turns in during an afternoon. The only negative comment was that the rules could use some more concise writing as there were some vague areas that lead to uncertainty about the rules.
We look forward to another game.
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