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Frostgrave is another Osprey title, but unlike the Wargames series, this is a stand-alone hardcover with additional support books. This is NOT part of their wargame range. The level of support for Frostgrave is greater than any individual Osprey title in the wargame series. The only Osprey titles close to this support level are Force-on-Force or Bolt Action. Some would argue that even these do not count since they are produced by different companies and only printed by Osprey.

Frostgrave is a Fantasy Skirmish game. The core of the game is a Wizard’s warband who are exploring the ruins of a frozen, ancient city for magical artifacts and treasure. The main genre hook is that you control a wizard and his band of followers. It essence, this is a campaign game that is reminiscent of Games Workshop's Mordheim.

So, let’s dig in and see what we have behind the covers.

http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2016/12/review-frostgrave-osprey-games.html

Good read.

FYI - Across A Deadly Field has two hardcover supplements. Regrettably, the author (John Hill, of Squad Leader and Johnny Reb fame) died shortly after the books were published.

Great review, I largely agree - except that I buy Osprey gaming titles as a matter of course and have come to like FG more and more despite ... or perhaps somewhat because of? ... its relative shallowness. If you want to give FG another chance, I would say maybe try Forgotten Pacts before Into the Breeding Pits - I think it is stronger overall, especially for someone looking for a bit more "crunchy" options in FG. This won't altogether alleviate your main concerns as it does not really deal with developing non-Wizard characters. FG does have one non-Wizard character who develops, the Captain. Captains take a hefty share of all the treasure you find but they will also level up. The rules for them are currently only found in an ebook publication but will be printed, with other ebook content, together in the next supplement:

https://www.amazon.com/Frostgrave-Folio-Joseph-McCullough/dp/1472818504/

Even this may not be enough to change your mind - but I think that is because you are looking for more "game" here whereas FG is really a vehicle for storytelling. This goes back to my analysis of "seeing who wins" as opposed to "seeing what happens" in game design.

Oh yeah! I forgot about that one. They also have the Cry Freedom game for the Revolutionary War, but no supplements.

Funny you mention the game design piece. I am typically all about "Seeing what Happens", but for some reason Frostgrave kind of left me cold. Perhaps because the campaign elements weren't strong enough, and the game play didn't fill in the gaps.

I will take a look at Forgotten pacts. Thanks for the tip!

Some scenarios have different aspects than just collecting treasure. For example, the well mission grants extra xp to a wizard that makes it to the well and drinks. There are also tactics within the game. It can be as simple as determining which henchmen deploy with your wizard or apprentice to more complex tactics such as spell selection. The biggest part of the strategy in my opinion is how to use your spells to create interesting combos. For example, do you teleport across the board? Do you push an enemy or use push to help your henchman move farther before he activates? Do you poison the knight or the wizard so they only have one action? Do you place a wall to deny your opponent access to a treasure? Cast fog to block line of sight? Or cast crumble on a bridge that the opponent is crossing so they fall and take damage. The d20 makes games swingy and it can be difficult to have fun when all the rolls go your opponent's way. But when you turn it around and have that epic moment when a lowly warhound takes down that enemy knight with a natural 20 critical, your group could be talking about that moment for weeks.

I think the AWI one is called Land of the Free. That was by Joe Krone. His interest seemed to shift to Ancient China very soon on the heels of LotF's publication. I don't know if supplements were ever planned.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Easy E wrote:
I am typically all about "Seeing what Happens", but for some reason Frostgrave kind of left me cold.

Nice one.

A friend of mine once described Frostgrave as "competitive shopping."

NIce review and it's cool to see all your reviews collected on a blog. Even when I disagree with you I tend to enjoy your reviews and perspective. Have you considered giving the rereleased ShockForce a review? http://www.wargamevault.com/product/192892/Shock-Force-Second-Edition

As for Frostgrave, my feelings after playing it were fairly similar. I thik that some of the shortcomings related to no-underdog-mechanic, and scenarios could be improved by house-ruling and by bringing in scenarios from other games, but I'm wasn't compelled enough to want to bother Adding to this, I didn't find myself enjoying the combat system any more than my old standby SBH and ASoBH and I wasn't terribly interested in the Wizard-Centric nature of the game.

I'd be willing to give it a chance again, and with the right group (and probably a good GM) it could be alot of fun but I am glad I got the chance to try it with my buddy's rulebook enabling me to skip buying it.

 Eilif wrote:
NIce review and it's cool to see all your reviews collected on a blog. Even when I disagree with you I tend to enjoy your reviews and perspective. Have you considered giving the rereleased ShockForce a review? http://www.wargamevault.com/product/192892/Shock-Force-Second-Edition

I hadn't thought of it. I haven't really reviewed free wargames rules since.... well.... anyone can get them with no risk. However, I haven't seen many other reviews out there so we will see if I get time.

Hopefully, I will be able to review Rogue Stars or Chosen Men. I will have to see what the mailman brought today!