Thaddeus Spins the Wheel

“I don’t know what that is, but it isn’t right…”

Oddleigh the apprentice peered through the ruins at the strange, slowly spinning contraption. He turned his head slightly to catch the muffled moans that emanated from it.

His master, Thaddeus Daemoncall, grunted.

“It’s a bone wheel boy – part of an accursed ritual. I read about it in that damned book – why do you think it went on the fire?”

“A ritual? A ritual for what?”

“I didn’t read that far, but those poor fellows hanging off it must be rescued, or at least allowed a painless death.”

The Summoner was about his warband forward, when something screamed…

Back then for the penultimate scenario in the Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign. Giles brought his Sigilist Toddlebrew, complete with a fresh coat of paint snazzy new outfit and together we would try to rescue the unfortunate captives from the bone wheel (and filch whatever treasure they happen to be carrying), whilst dealing with the terrifying Banshees that guarded it.

Thaddeus started off well, with his pre-game spells summoning a skeleton, upgraded to an armoured version and a minor demon with two attributes, giving it extra legs (+1 move) and magical attacks.

Thaddeus and his band approached warily from one corner and began to fan out. A wailing Banshee floated through the ruins, so Thaddeus’ magical demon was tasked with taking it down.

Toddlebrew’s and his mob arrived at the opposite corner. His crew were tooled up with enchantments and were ready to do battle with another Banshee. Winning the initiative, a magical arrow was fired and struck true, laying to rest the wailing creature.

The other Banshee was likewise destroyed by Thaddeus’ magical demon, although it took a couple of rounds. With the threat dealt with, it was time to head towards the wheel. To make up the numbers, Oddleigh summoned an imp.

Both bands edged closer, skirmishing around the edges of the wheel but by and large using it to keep out of sight of the opposition. Thaddeus’ armoured skeleton was shot down – ah well, he could always raise another one!

At the other side of the wheel, an infantryman was attacked and defeated by Toddlebrew’s green knight. In return one of Thaddeus’ treasure hunters slew the opposing warhound.

The poor victims are soon being pulled from the wheel as soon it span them into into reach, but the Lich Lord did not stand idle while his ritual was being spoiled. Four death cultists wandered onto the scene behind the Sigilist.

Meanwhile the green knight was ganged up on and slain, while Thaddeus spent most of his time leaping treasure carriers rescuers back to safety. On his left, the ranger and marksman had climbed amongst the ruins, trying to draw a bead on the enemy.

Both warbands had snagged three treasures each and were beginning to think about getting out of harm’s way. The opposition had formed a firing line in order to cover the withdrawal, but not only had to deal with the imp, but also the cultists coming up behind them.

The imp, despite being outnumbered, took down an archer before being defeated by his comrade. On Thaddeus’ left, his marksman is flung into the air via a push spell, but luckily the fall, though damaging, isn’t fatal, meaning that he is soon healed by Oddleigh.

The cultists piled into Toddlebrew’s men, but they were quickly dispatched at the cost of a couple of dead or wounded archers. Thaddeus was shepherding his troops off the field with their rescued bundles, while Oddleigh, the ranger and marksman sniped from the left.

Meanwhile on Thaddeus’ right flank, a number of troops began to push forward, with the archer taking ineffective pot shots at the enemy captain. Fluffy the demonic warhound was already well ahead, waiting to pounce on any unwary treasure carrier as Toddlebrew’s men sought to escape.

After surviving the cultists' onslaught, Toddlebrew's archers were rewarded with a well-aimed elemental ball from Oddleigh, which made a nice dent in the Sigilist's firing line

As the dregs of the Sigilist’s band withdrew, the warhound worked her way to their rear, and launched herself at the apprentice. Watching from the flank, Oddleigh risked a mind control spell and rolled high enough for it’s target, a wounded archer, to be unable to shake it off.

With the mind-controlled archer in support, Fluffy defeated the apprentice -  the last casualty in the game, as by now the majority of soldiers had left the field, leaving an empty bone wheel to spin uselessly in the fetid breeze.

A great game - made easier by the early demise of both Banshees. Treasure-wise it was a draw with three each, but I pipped Giles to the post by way of casualties caused, including his apprentice, who, having had a close call, lost all of his expensive equipment.

Read Giles' version of events here.

Oddleigh waved as the three rescued captives bade a grateful farewell and limped back to civilization. He watched them as they disappeared into the gloom, half wishing that he could go with them.

He sighed before turning to walk back into the Cloven Hoof, only to find his master leaning in the doorway.

“You can go if you like,” he said. “You’ve more than earned the right to do so.”

“Oh, er… no, I-I’ll stay,” stammered the apprentice. “I signed a contract at the hiring fair and, well, this isn’t over yet is it?”

Thaddeus followed Oddleigh’s gaze to the blackening clouds that swirled maddeningly in the sky above them and shook his head.

“No, it’s not over, but the time has come for the final reckoning I suspect.” Suddenly his grim features broke into a huge grin. “But the good news is that I’ve finally found what I’ve been looking for.”

“Oh?”

“Hehe, oh yes. If we can survive what is to come my boy, there will be no stopping us!”

Escape the Dark Castle

There’s a reason for my lack of updates, for I’ve been incarcerated in the dreaded Dark Castle!

Yes, the Kickstarter campaign that I wrote about previously has delivered the goods, and I’m now the proud owner of the core Escape the Dark Castle game and the Cult of the Death Knight expansion.

The core game consists of character cards and their associated dice, the chapter cards, item cards and boss cards (including extra Kickstarter exclusive ones) and the golden axe item card and dice (another Kickstarter exclusive). There are also pencils, a notepad (oh, and a number of atmospheric music tracks to download).

The expansion pack contains the chapter cards for the Death Knight game, curse cards (to be mixed into the item card pile) and the curse dice, new character cards and dice and of course the boss card for the Death Knight himself.

I’ve played a few games, both solo (when you play two characters) and with my eldest daughter and they’ve been great fun, even if we only managed to escape once! For my last game (using just the core set) I took a few snaps, to give you a flavour of the challenges that await…

You start off by choosing a random, face down, boss card – the Big Bad that you have to defeat, should you survive everything else that’s thrown at you, in order to win the game. All the characters have to survive. If one dies, then you all lose.

Next you shuffle the chapter cards and place 15 of them face down on top of the boss card. On top of these you place the start card. You shuffle the item cards and put them face down to one side and then choose your characters. For this game I chose the Abbot and the Miller. Notice those symbols and marks next to them. Those are their stats – might (fist), wisdom (star) and cunning (eye). Note that the Abbot scores well on wisdom but not cunning, while the Miller is the opposite. Both have a pretty good might rating. These stats are reflected in their character dice.

So the first card is turned. This is the start card, which is always the one you begin with. It allows you to pick up a couple of items, in this case a rotten shield and a rune stone, which will help you in your escape. Items are also picked up after defeating adversaries in combat, and if passing certain tests in other chapter cards.

And so the first chapter card proper is turned. Deciding who should turn each card is an important aspect of the game, for sometimes events will occur that relate to that character (noted as YOU in the card text). The text in italics must be read aloud by whoever turned it. This time it’s a bunch of brigands, who surround and separate us, meaning that each character must fight them alone.

The Abbot and the Miller manage to defeat the rogues and thus draw an item card. What’s this? Liquid Luck! That’ll come in very handy. You can only carry two items each (or one if it’s a double-handed item). However you can swap items and temporarily put them down (to eat an item of food for example) at the end of each chapter. I battle through a few more chapters, dodging vicious plants, negotiating crumbling stairs and fighting evil minions.

Later on I nominate the Abbot to turn the next card – he’s carrying the shield, so takes less damage if something jumps out at him. Good job too, for a disgusting giant worm is on the hunt for it’s dinner! Note the black chapter dice and the corresponding icons on the bottom left of the chapter card. The first three dice correspond to the first three icons, while the next two correspond to the fourth icon, which means ‘roll the number of dice equal to the number of player/characters’. The white character dice are then rolled and whenever a symbol matches that of a black die, it is removed. Once all the black dice are removed you have won. However if black dice remain, then the creature deals out damage equal to the number on the bottom right of the chapter card.

By now both the Abbot and Miller are in a bad way, but, with his shield still intact the Abbot turns the next card – big mistake - a hideous ghoul attacks and the Abbot is so terror stricken that none of his wisdom rolls count. Considering that this is his highest stat, and therefore one he is most likely to roll, this is not good news. With the Abbot next to useless, the ghoul is difficult to beat, as the dwindling health scores attest. Note that sometimes the health goes up – this is when a character has opted to rest, which means he gains one health but doesn’t take part in the fighting.

The fight with the ghoul leaves our intrepid pair with dangerously low health, but a search of it’s lair reveals the fabled golden axe! This weapon gives you an extra die to roll in combat and is very powerful. However it can also suck the life out of the wielder if you roll the skull symbol – something that happened to me with depressing regularity in previous games. With health low I can’t take that risk and opt to leave it where it is.

A few more encounters as I work my way through the chapter cards. There are more challenges and more battles. Both escapees are at a mere 3 health when they come across a cook. Luckily they manage to sneak off with one of his pies by rolling the right symbols, bumping their health up by one precious point.

But in the next chapter it all comes to an end. Strange spectres reach out of the gloom, dealing a whopping 3 damage in combat. The Abbot and Miller battle valiantly – the Abbot’s shield soaking up some damage – whilst resting as much as possible. However eventually the Abbot succumbs to the spectre’s icy grasp – game over with only one more chapter card before the boss battle!

I’m really enjoying this game – the game mechanics sound pretty simple at first, but there’s a lot more to this game than meets the eye. As you can see, deciding who turns the next card can be crucial, as is item placement. There’s a real false sense of security at the start, when you’ve got 18 health, but as the game progresses and you start to get into single figures you really have to think about your next move.

I also love the look of the game. Being a gamer of a certain age I was brought up on Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and the like: the look and feel of which this game has in spades, right down to the notepad and pencils. The cards are also nice and sturdy and the dice are of good quality.

Despite hurricanes in China and a surprise customs inspection the game was delivered in good time, making my first crowdfunding experience a good one (marred only by my own impatience I’m ashamed to say.) Congratulations to Themeborne for coming up with a great game and running a brilliant Kickstarter campaign!

Gnauld Lang Syne

A belated Happy New Year to Frostgravians everywhere!

For me the festive season was very quiet wargaming-wise, but I did manage to finish off some Gnoll archers, knocked up from the Northstar Gnoll box set.

May the Dice Gods shine on you throughout 2018 :)

Escape to Victory?

‘twas the week before Christmas, and all through the tomb, sinister creatures stirred in the gloom…

Oh go on then, one more post before the turkey and tinsel-fest – another crack at Alone in the Crypt.

This time I re-tweaked our hero’s stats a little, swapping his +1 fight for +1 shoot, in the hope that he could keep the evil dead at arm’s length.

Our brave hero awoke to find himself in a familiar position – why had the Gods done this to him? This time he was near the entrance to a side chamber, within which he found no doorway to freedom. With a growing sense of déjà vu he exited the chamber to find an armoured skeleton advancing on him.

After wasting a magic arrow with a missed shot, our hero braced himself. He parried the creature’s lunge, pushing it back but not destroying it. Having earned some breathing space, he pulled back and fired an arrow of crumbling at the chamber entrance, blocking it off. Hopefully that would even the odds a little.

The armoured skeleton attacked once more, but this time our hero was more prepared and quickly gained the upper hand. However he could not sit on his laurels for long, for something else was shuffling towards him.

Another armoured skeleton! This one was easily dispatched, giving our hero time to search another chamber. Alas once again, no exit presented itself.

Whoooooooo… The air grew cold as a frost wraith appeared from a side chamber. Our hero notched a magic +1 arrow and fired. The icy spectre crumpled into a pile of frozen sheets!

Another armoured skeleton appeared and walked straight into the pile of rubble that blocked the side chamber. That plan to use the arrow of crumbling was working!

There followed more fruitless searching by our hero, who wisely ignored the treasures in favour of getting the hell out of there. Across the main hall, two skeletons arose from the debris.

They advanced towards our hero, who took one out with another +1 magical arrow. So far he had searched four side chambers but could still not escape.

As the surviving skeleton advanced, two more appeared in a side chamber. Our hero would have to be quick, lest he be swamped with undead!

One skeleton down, but the newly arrived pair was on its way. Maybe there was time to check out just one treasure…? No! Focus on the job in hand!

Our hero selected an explosive arrow from his magical quiver. Could he kill two skeletons with one arrow? Er, no – the projectile shot off at an angle and exploded harmlessly in a dark corner. Thankfully one skeleton was quickly destroyed in combat.

However more undead were arriving. Another frost wraith floated from a side chamber as our hero battled the remaining skeleton. For such a fragile creature it was proving tough to beat.

But eventually out hero prevailed. The he could feel the frost wraith’s icy presence bearing down upon him. Desperate, he raced into another side chamber and clawed at the walls…

Click! His fingers caught a loose stone, which moved under his grip causing a door to swing open! Daylight flooded into the chamber as, finally, our hero fulfilled his destiny and escaped the tomb.

Phew! It was touch and go for a while, but I managed to keep the numbers of undead fairly low and more importantly rolled well enough to keep them at bay. Now the question is, can I replicate the same result, but snag some treasure into the bargain..?

Happy Christmas chums - see you in 2018!

Walls & Toys

Just a quick post in amongst the seasonal madness that is JP Towers.

You've probably already heard that dragons have come to Frostgrave! The latest issue of Spellcaster is now out, and contains rules for fielding these fearsome beasts, including a challenging co-op scenario.

I haven't got a dragon model in my collection, but here's a quick snap of a Papo dragon that lurks in my daughters' toy box, which will do at a pinch.

Also, my pal Giles very kindly made me some walls (cheers mate!), to act as wall spell markers. He's done a great job and these will replace my current wall spell markers, which are chunks of plain grey foam.

That's it for now. I've got a few things on the painting table, but whether they'll be done before the Xmas hols remains to be seen. Have a good 'un folks if I don't see you before!

Groundhog Slay

“They say we're young and we don't know; won't find out until we grow…”

The lyrics of a strange and alien song died away in his head, along with memories of an icy death.

As he opened his eyes he focussed on the worn stone floor stretching out into the gloom before him. Unsteadily he got to his feet as in the distance the sound of clattering bones could be heard…

Time for another crack at Alone in the Crypt! I didn’t have my copy of the Frostgrave Folio with me, so I used the same captain stats as I did in my previous, and very unsuccessful, venture. This time our hero started on far left of the crypt. Learning his lesson from last time, he fired an arrow at the nearest armoured skeleton, but missed.

Maybe getting out fast was the key. With this in mind he moved into the nearest chamber, but no exit could be found. Thwarted, the hero re-entered the main crypt and ran smack bang into the armoured skeleton.

Luckily he easily dispatched his foe, but another armoured skeleton was approaching. Could he shoot the creature down? No – the shot missed once more, so he readied himself for another attack. The skeleton lunged but was defeated at a stroke.

With the crypt temporarily free of terrors, our hero had time to investigate the nearest treasure. It was a nice bag of gold – now why did that sound familiar? After fruitlessly searching another side chamber on the opposite side of the crypt, the sound of moaning alerted him to a new danger – a frost wraith! The strange sense of deja-vu grew stronger…

He fired his bow, but missed again! With disturbing memories fleeting through his head, our hero defended himself against the wraith’s attack and parried, thankfully shattering the fiend into shards of ice. Once again the place was empty, so he searched another chamber for doors with no success.

As he left the chamber and headed back into the main crypt, a zombie began shambling towards him. Once again arrows failed to make their mark and so the zombie closed in, clawing at our hero. He fought back, reducing the zombie to 1 health before pushing it back and making a run for it, preferring to get out as quickly as possible whilst avoiding the slow creature.

With this in mind he crossed the main crypt to begin his search in the remaining chambers. Once again he found nothing, and abandoned his search after a guttural growl emanated from the shadows. Suddenly a ghoul loped across the flagstones towards him.

Our hero found himself hemmed in a chamber, with the ghoul and zombie blocking his path. Taking no chances and in an attempt to even the odds, he notched his bow with a magical +3 arrow. He fired, and hit home! Squealing, the ghoul went down.

He raced out of the side chamber, easily avoiding the zombie. There was a glint to his right – more treasure! Should he investigate? Well the zombie was down to 1 health – what harm could it do? He rummaged through the debris and found a valuable fate stone. If need be he now had a re-roll to get him out of a sticky situation.

The clattering of bones alerted him to the arrival of a skeleton. Distracted, he did not notice the zombie until it was too late. As they fought, the Dice Gods picked up their D20s and rolled… The zombie got a 20! And thus our hero went down in a spray of blood and innards as the zombie enjoyed it’s lunch.

Argh! I stopped to get treasure again! Will I ever learn? Still, I did better than in the last playthrough. Shooting was an issue, so next time I’ll re-do the stats to improve the shooting modifier. The crypt hasn’t finished with me yet…

Alone (Very Alone) in the Crypt

With December suddenly upon us, ‘tis the season for wargaming dads across the world to put aside their toys, cancel their gaming engagements and embark on the festive litany of (deep breath) Xmas shopping trips, school fayres, visits to Santa, nativity plays, works parties, spouses works parties and a plethora of other Christmassy things (yes, that includes decorating and putting up the tree - you try saying "it's too early" to two excited children and an even more excited wife!).

But us wargaming dads who play Frostgrave don’t give up that easily, oh dear me no. Step forward the first issue of Spellcaster, the Frostgrave magazine! Within the hallowed pages of said periodical, there is a little solo scenario called “Alone in the Crypt” – which takes a single captain (or a beefed up ranger if you don’t have the Sellsword or Frostgrave Folio publications), gives him a magic quiver and chucks him into an undead-infested crypt.

This scenario is just the job if you want to snatch a quick game in between festive dad duties, as you only need a handful of figures and no scenery except a floorplan that you can print out using the dungeon tiles available from the downloadable resources section of Osprey’s website.

And so the floor collapses under our hero and he finds himself in a cavernous and spooky crypt. In the half-light he can make out several entrances to other chambers. Will one of them lead to the way out? He’d better find out soon, because in the gloom, the undead are stirring…

The glint of treasure catches his eye. He moves along the crypt wall to investigate… gold! He pockets the chinking coins as an armoured skeleton jerks towards him from out of the darkness. Thankfully a sweep of his magical weapon is enough to dispose of the menace.

He heads off to explore the nearest side-chamber, but the far wall is blank – no exit here. Disappointed, he emerges back into the main crypt, only to be beset not only by another armoured skeleton, but also a terrifying frost wraith!

Despite being outnumbered, our hero turns the skeleton into a heap of bones and armour, but the frost wraith is upon him! It’s chilling touch saps the life out of our hero’s rapidly freezing body and he collapses to the floor, dead. All that’s left is the clinking sound of those coins, rolling along the flagstones…

Wow, that was a quick game! Lessons learned though – don’t mess about looting treasure and poking for exits when there are undead closing in on you. I also made no use whatsoever of the magical arrows that the scenario gives you – better maybe to shoot your way out of trouble, especially against more powerful undead like frost wraiths.

Still a fun solo rattle-through however and worth another try soon! I recommend Spellcaster (issue 2 is out soon I believe) as it contains not only this great scenario, but also optional rules for things like black powder weapons, horses and such - check it out!