Club Night: The Silent Tower

Back at the Hereford Wargames Club for another game of Frostgrave! It’s really great that so many club members are willing to give the game a try and are keen to return for another bash. For this game, Liam and Chris returned with a Necromancer and Elementalist warband respectively, while Reece had his first game with a Witch warband. I took to the field with my Illusionist band.

With four players on a 3’x3’ mat, it was absolute mayhem! In between explaining the game, spell effects, double-checking rules etc. not to mention having a great laugh, I didn’t take many photos or make note of what was going on, so this batrep is mainly a series of impressions from my side of the table.

We drop two treasure tokens each and then I place a treasure in the main tower and the two connecting ones. All four warbands cautiously advanced towards the silent tower and it’s priceless treasure. Faces dropped when I explained that, in this game of magic and spellcasting, no spells could be cast at or in the towers!

Luckily I rolled high for my first casting – the beauty spell. Snipping off a couple of health points made it nigh-impossible for my illusionist to be attacked by the other warbands. I also tried the same with my apprentice, but he proved to be less than capable! Meanwhile treasure is located and grabbed – will it attract any wandering monsters?

Yes – a large golem! This massive stone brute clumped onto the table behind Liam’s Necromancer band, causing his wizard to hurriedly leap out of the way, leaving his minions to dodge it’s huge fists.

This blurry photo shows the pack of rats that appeared behind my warband. They ignore my treasure-laden thug, who had been rendered invisible, and headed for my wizard. Luckily Liam sent in one of his thugs in an attempt to outflank me, so the rats pounced on him instead. My warhound engaged the rat pack, but for some reason I turned it invisible, making my wizard the prime target (rats don’t appreciate beauty)! The warhound must attack, making it visible again!

My invisible thug continued to lug away treasure as my warhound and archer, hurriedly pulled back, dealt with the rats. The warhound succumbed to the furry tide, forcing me to pull back another thug. Thankfully the other warbands seemed content to attack each other and leave me alone, give or take the occasional ranged shot.

We’re all nabbing treasure, but the precious stuff at the top of the main tower was still unclaimed. Much hilarity ensued as we all fluffed spells and groaned as more creatures wandered into the fray behind us. Chris is faced with a pair of ice spiders and later a boar, Reece got menaced by some wolves while Liam, still battling the golem, also had to fend off a bear.

On my left, Chris’ Elementalist could have caused a lot more trouble for me with his elemental bolts. After blasting one of my archers into crispy pieces, he targeted many more of my band as they moved up, but luckily for me rolled low each time.

Liam’s shadowy Necromancer leaped onto a connecting walkway to the main tower – would he go for the treasure? This made him a great target for my remaining archer. He hits, but didn’t kill the wizard, but it’s enough to persuade him to teleport away from such an exposed position.

Opposite me, Reece’s Witch was battling with warbands on both flanks and occasionally taking pot shots at my band. He managed to secure some treasure and caused quite a few casualties, despite the wolves snapping at his heels.

But it’s my man-at-arms that scaled the ladder of the main tower to claim the treasure within! By now it’s getting late, so we call it a night. Each warband took casualties, but more importantly each had a share of the treasure. Shots were missed, attacks went in cack-handed, spells were miscast and we only seemed to roll high when we didn't want to - all good fun!