Frostgave campaign episode 1: The Well of Dreams and Sorrows

 It's a go, together with Wouter and Thibaud we started a campaign for Frostgrave second edition.

 

Now, for the moment as we are three, our plan is to play a scenario twice each evening, once against each opponent, determening at the end the scenario for the session the next month.

 

But for the first game, and get a hang of the system (we made mistakes, especially in combat resulting in barely any casualties, as we found out during game 3, so that will be corrected next time) we picked the basic scenario The Well of Dreams and Sorrows, without random monstets (they will enter the campaign from next time forward).

 

Game 1: Zarbag the Illusionist versus Archibald the Sigilist

 

In the first game of tonight, the goblin Illusionist Zarbag (left) faced of against the beer-brewing dwarf Sigilist Archibald (right) to try and discover the power of the Well.

 

Both warbands deployed at the edges of the town section, ready to taste the mystical waters and learn of it's secrets.

 

The dwarfs where the first to reach the premises of the well, a statue of the Holy Lady of Crooked Dice Rolls, and drink from her fresh springwaters.

 

But the scurrying feet of the goblins could be heard nearby, as they quickly approached through the ruins.

 

The dwarfs rushed forward to secure the treasure tokens in the meantime.

 

 More of the little greenskins kept hoarding treasure tokens though, as the glittering gold coins shined in their beady little red eyes.

 

These efforts continued, as both sides wanted to grab as many riches to finance their journeys along the city though, avoiding any direct confrontations for the moment.

 

 But soon the goblin warsquigs caught sent of the dwarfs, and howling and bouncing charged forward to bite their faces off!

 

The dwarfs firmly held their line though, protecting the treasure from the vicious beasts. 

 

In the meantime, two archers had clambered up the walls to draw lines of sight to the well and try and stop anyone approaching.

 

But the dwarven apprentice Patje did manage a swig before slinking back into the city, and the game came to an end, both warbands counting their wins.  The Dwarfs, winners of the scenario, moved into a Brewery, while the greedy Goblins took refuge in a Treasury, where they took care of an injured warsquig, but the beast would not be able to join the next expedition though... 

 

Game 2: Zarbag the Illusionist versus The Witch of Balantine

 

 

And then it was time for me to step into the arena for the first of two games tonight, and I began with facing the "defeated" Zarbag of the first scenario. 

 

The section of the city was rearranged for some different gameplay...

 

 ... and both warbands set up on their edges to try and have a drink of the Well.

 

 

The greedy goblins immediatly began advancing to the open central square where the statue was located.

  

They cast an Explosive Rune nearby, but an Echanted Armoured thug bravely threw himself on it, both him and the Cursed enemy wizard taking damage from the blast.

 

The Witch of Balantine had set up and ambush though, and her warriors streamed in as Barnacle Bert made off with a single golden ring.   The brave barbarian however is SO dimwitted, he didn't even realise the enemy wizards tried to cast Fool's Gold on him, making off with the treasure unfazed.

 

Almost as dimwitted as this goblin trying to climb the walls... 

 

 As the enemy warhound was dispatched, the warriors took up positions to shield the Witch and her Apprentice, allowing them to drink from the well.

 

And after tasting the magical waters, the warbands retreated.  The Witch took residence in an old Library, while her quest had yielded 100 GC, Scrolls of both Leap and Summon Demon, and Potions of Poison and Invisibility as well as a Grimoire of Time Stop.  She advanced to level 2, increasing her Health and lowering the casting value of Curse.  Unfortunatly for Zarbag the Illusionist, his warhound did not survive the wounds it had suffered during the game.

 

Game 3: Archibald the Sigilist versus The Witch of Balantine

 

In the final game for this evening, my Witch faced the victor of the first game, the Sigilist Archibald and his merry crew looking for a mythical beerbarrel. 

 

The scenery as such was rearranged one final time for today's game...

 

... and both warbands deployed for a final run towards the Well.

 

The Witch started aggressive, rushing (and Leaping) her warriors forward. as Bob the Thug set off all alone to the far treasure.

 

The Dwarf wizard however, instead thought it a better idea to damage himself while failing to cast, and his apprentice, eager to copy his master's movements... did the same! 

 

 But soon he encountered quit some opposition, as the Sigilist's troops had their eyes on that book as well!

 

Run Bob, RUUUUUUUUUN!!!!

 

Bob managed to shake off most of his pursuers, helped mostly by being tandem Leap-frogged by both the Witch and her Apprentice. 

 

Around the well, a melee had erupted, Curses and Poison darts wreaking havoc amongst the Dwarfs efficiency.   The Dwarf apprentice drank from the well... but then a thug appeared from around a corner and pushed him into the well, draining his lifeforce as a result!

 

With three treasure tokens in her possession and not willing to risk her apprentice to also go drink from the well, the Witch of Balantine gave the order to withdraw from the field of battle, the battered dwarfs glad they where allowed to slink away with their treasure tokens.

 

Unfortunatly for them, Patje was recovered from the well, but he remained cold and stiff.  The Sigilist apprentice had died from the overdose of magical infusion of the waters.  The Witch had gained 90 GC from this encounter, a second Potion of Invisibility and a Philtre of Fairy Dust, as well as a Grimoire of Poison Dart.  She sold this book as she already knows this spell, and then spend a portion of her gold to install a Giant Cauldron in her Library.  Rising three levels, she learned Time Stop from an earlier found grimoire, increased her Will and lowered the casting value of her Leap spell.

 

So, that was the first session of our little "beer and pretzel campaign", with some hilarious moments to go with them.  The next game night for this will be in about 5 weeks, and having rolled for the scenario (so we know what to prepare in figs and scenery) that will be a night of Genie in the Bottle (ouch!).  With the Random Encounter Table (level 1 only) also coming to the table then, so it will be a lot more mayhem and chaos for sure!

 

Until then, and may you never get lost in the ruins of Felstad! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bowing out of the Escalation League

 Alas, alas, I am forced to bow out from the club's Escalation League for the remainder of the campaign.

 

The reasons, without going in to much of details, being of a family health related issues.

 

This saddens me though for the people I still needed to face, as well as for the organisor, Steven, who put in a heap of work to run the whole campaign.  But I had a chat with him over the weekend, and it just isn't feasible at the moment to commit to making appointments weeks in advance.  The same happened already with the Blood Bowl League, but as that doesn't have fixed months but just a period in which you need to complete the games, it offers the possibility to shuffle around with dates.

 

 

I'm currently in the position for friday night fixtures that I can at the uttermost confirm a week in front of I would be able to play or not the next friday, all but ideal for an Escalation League.  This has led me to decide, after above chat, to bow out of the League.

 

Never the less, I will continue to work on the army, as I already had almost 1650 points painted up anyways, to get to the 2000 points goal, with the units for what would have been the 6th round already halfway done.

 

They will just take a bit longer now to complete unfortunatly...

TSA Escalation League 2025: Giacommo Di Merlo, Empire Captain

 Having served well as a general for the first round, it is time for my hedgewizard to relinquish command to a true general.

Or well, that is what it looks like...

My Captain of the Empire now takes command of the force, and what better model is suitable for a Marienburg army then the classic Imperial Noble from Warhammer Quest, still one of the coolest models around in my opinion.

He is only equipped with light armour though (and of course a pistol) as that is just what the model looks like.  For magic items it was all dependant on my battle result from round 1, as I was low on points, but he goes to war with XXX.

Now the plan is that in later rounds a true general of the Empire will take over command from the captain, but that will all depend on how the points acquisition will go during the course of the League.  For now, this foppish nobleman will lead the army of Marienburg in battle though!

And together with the command groups and the Doomseeker, that also rounds out the additions to the force for the second round of the League...

TSA Escalation League 2025: Round 1 - Civil War

 And so we are off in the Escalation League, as the lines are put down for the first battle in the campaign for my Marienburg force.

And opposing me in the 500 points game was Jason, who also brought along the Empire of Man, so a civil war is the ideal skirmish to begin the campaign with...

So my force stood ready for battle, though "efficient" might be something else, as I wanted the feel of a ragtag band of local soldiers, not even carrying colours or the likes as they are taken aback by a roving hedgewizard shouting they are under attack.

Opposing me was another Empire of Man force from Middenheim, which consisted of a level 2 wizard with Ring of Ruin and Battle Magic, 5 Knights, 10 Crossbowmen, 5 Outriders and 2 units of 5 Archer scouts.

Generating my spells, I got Summon Elemental Spirit, so I would be able to use my vortex model, and Wind Blast.  The scenario was a straight Open Battle, and the campaign bonus objective was Hold the Ground, so from turn 2 onwards scoring units (on my side only the general, for him the general and the knights) needed to be within 6" of the central skull to generate tokens.  Most tokens at the end would claim the bonus objective.

I had first turn, and my force advanced forward.  My wizard managed to manifest the Summon Elemental Spirit in front of his knights, blocking their route to the heart of my force.

I did some minor casualties, with one scouting archer unit reduced to a single member, and the other losing only a single one.

The knights moved sideways to evade the spirit, as the first handgunners where shot down.

Combined fire from those spooky Outriders, Fireballs and Crossbows wreaked havoc on my Greatswords, nearly half their number falling but they remained steady.

With turn 2 now on, it was time I tried to do some real damage though, or this would be a very swift defeat.

My wizard casted Wind Blast, causing a panic test on the crossbows with his general.  They where first pushed back 2 inches, then failed their panic test and ran away a further 11 inch.  As they had deployed 12 inch in, this meant they ran off the battlefield, taking his general along with them!

His knights readied themselves to charge my crossbowmen though, as my Greatswords where obliterated.   My general decided to leg it as a result, as a unit was destroyed within 6 inches...

He failed to rally in my turn, and the crossbows couldn't take down a single knight in front of them.  But then they charged, and as a result of the stand and shoot lost one of their number.  They failed the panic, running through the Elemental Spirit but taking no loss from it.  

 

On the other side, the Handgunners where all shot down by the sick amount of dice the Outriders throw out, and they hit rather easily as well.  I think lady Margritta needs to send a fat paycheck to the Engineers guild in the nearby future...

My halberdiers charged on his knights, pushing them closer to their own edge, but my wizard failed to rally, running onwards.

In his turn the knights had rallied, and I moved my forces closer to receive the charge.  In the meantime, my wizard had rallied and he re-cast the vortex in the hope it would become an annoyance for his Outriders.  The inevitable charge of the knights came on the halberdiers in his next turn.

My wizard was then (just) gunned down, but the halberds managed to draw combat in the first round, taking down his standard in doing so, while in my turn they killed the last remaining Knight for no loss of their own.

His missile fire dwindled them down a bit, but as the game kept continuing, they charged the Outriders and the archer.  The Outriders Fire and Fled, but where shot down by the crossbows as they did so, while the lone archer was hacked down by the halberds.

In the final turn, his last two archers where taken out, leaving the field to the forces of Marienburg.  

Victory was my part to kick off the campaign, and I had scored the bonus objective thanks to the turn my general and his greatswords had lingered next to the objective.  The Wind Blast was the moment of the match, but the real winner for me was the Crossbowmen, who got, admittedly, lucky on the Stand and Shoot, but eliminated stragglers afterwards as well.

 

This means that all the available bonus points for round 2 have been scored, and the force will be boosted to 740 points for the next game, which will be against the Orcs and Goblin tribes of Patrick.  Now to go on a shopping spree to bump the quality up this time round instead of the numbers...

But that will be a tale for next month!