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Hey guys!

A friend of mine and I have become really intrigued in fantasy skirmish with a campaign and “progression” over it due to the surprise release of “limited edition Notcromunda” and the associates rumours of a rebooted mordheimesq game.

So we're looking into rules for doing our own thing till a new supported game is released.

Now to be clear setting isn't a big deal for us, but good, fun rules are. We've got our own ideas for the setting and aesthetics we want in tue boards and for our warbands, and they are neither mordheim or frostgrave based. (Im gonna give a go at rehabilitating some Kairic acolytes into a life without chaos, hes gonna try and make some men out of woodelves)


So, which game would you suggest for two people who want a warband based game with RPG elements, like unit xp and progression and getting special (magical) equipment to put on leaders? Are there any games which lend themselves to occasional co-operative play scenarios?

And ifnyour suggestion is mordheim, what variation? Original, coreheim, or wyrdwars?

frostgrave. It is that good.

I'd have to agree, for fantasy skirmish with a touch of RPG, there's not much better than Frostgrave.

However, if sci-fi is your thing, then there's not much else out there than "limited edition Necromunda," which to be fair is a very solid game.

 schoon wrote:
I'd have to agree, for fantasy skirmish with a touch of RPG, there's not much better than Frostgrave.

However, if sci-fi is your thing, then there's not much else out there than "limited edition Necromunda," which to be fair is a very solid game.

I would agree on the Frostgrave part. But I would have to disagree on the sci-fi part. While Shadow War Armageddon is the talk right now. If you like Fallout or post apocalyptic in general, you should give This is Not a Test a try. It has several types of warbands, several scenarios, a campaign system, and the chance of wandering creatures/weather during missions to add an extra bit.

In Mordheim, you have a few heroes (usually a leader and lieutenant, and several new recruit types) who gain advances, and henchmen, who will also gain advances, but not so quickly, and not to the same extent as the heroes.

In Frostgrave, all warbands are led by a wizard and optionally an apprentice, who are the only ones who gain any advances (and in one of the expansions, a Captain, who can also gain advances). All the henchmen are expendable goons.

I probably prefer the basic mechanics of Frostgrave, but I find the wizard-centric focus a little frustrating. YMMV.

for sci fi settings, there's a fan-supported version of Necromunda, with Inquisimunda as a spin-off (search for Yaktribe), or Rogue Stars (if you like the idea of early Rogue Trader without the clunky 80s rules) and the upcoming post-apocalyptic Scrappers, both from Osprey.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
In Frostgrave, all warbands are led by a wizard and optionally an apprentice, who are the only ones who gain any advances (and in one of the expansions, a Captain, who can also gain advances). All the henchmen are expendable goons.

<snip>

For sci fi settings, there's a fan-supported version of Necromunda, with Inquisimunda as a spin-off (search for Yaktribe)... <snip>

Looking forward to Ghost Archipelago, the new game by the same author. It may add some new twists.

...and thank-you for the Inquisimunda pointer!

I do like Frostgrave myself.

I've heard really really good things about both Frostgrave and the GW entry, Silver Tower.

 Anpu-adom wrote:
I've heard really really good things about both Frostgrave and the GW entry, Silver Tower.

Silver Tower isn't really a skirmish campaign game though - more of a cooperative miniatures board game. Character advancement is very limited, and it has more in common with games like Descent, the original Warhammer Quest, and Zombicide than games like Mordheim, Necromunda, Frostgrave, This is Not a Test, Legends of the Old West, and so on.

It's a good game, I just don't think it's what the OP is looking for.

Personally, I like Frostgrave better than Mordheim, but it has a high random factor and it is wizard-focused. This is Not a Test is an excellent game as well unless you don't want any SF elements at all.

I would wait for Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago instead of playing Mordheim if you want a fantasy skirmish campaign that isn't wizard-focused, unless you love the WFB setting more than you care about having elegant rules.

Nothing stopping you playing Mordheim using the Ghost Archipelago - or any other - rules.

Did anyone mention Song of Blades and Heroes? That's another generic fantasy skirmish game that's worth a look.

I own Frostgrave...only played it once but found it really underwhelming. That was when it first came out. It's had...I'll say, too many, expansions since then. It's one of "those" games. A load of expansions/add-ons etc. That sounds good in practice but it really starts to muddy the waters.

The wizard-centric thing is kinda boring. The rules aren't particularly tight so you need to play with folks you can agree with (for competitive gamers, the rules language is a little grey). The campaign system - at least in the original book - is mediocre at best. I'm sure it became deeper with a vast number of add-ons. The initial scenarios are boring as tits - all far too aimed at grabbing treasure (much in the way Mordheim obsesses over wyrdstone). That's easily fixed with player designed scenarios.

The D20 mechanic is quite swingy. My personal main gripe with Frostgrave is that while it's a decent game, people seem to revere it as the second coming of Christ. It's a okay-good game, but I found nothing about it to be particularly amazing.

The good news is that you can easily use the same terrain for both, and most of the same miniatures. Frostgrave is far more forgiving on the miniatures you use (more vague and obviously not tied in at all to the Warhammer world).

Warhammer has a better/more interesting background and far more material (if you combine all sources). The rules are, however very GW so they have a specific flavor and are equally as loose/grey as Frostgrave in some instances.

The plastic modular kits from Frostgrave are quite good and equally useful in Mordheim.

Considering Mordheim is a free download and Frostgrave can be had for very cheap - I'd aim at building terrain and miniatures suitable for both and simply buy both rule sets. That's an easy solution. Try playing both.