Despite there being a new edition of the rules, we were still using first edition, and it's a long while since either of us played, so we were a bit rusty. I chose one of the rulebook scenarios that required no additional or special terrain, Genie in a Bottle. It did need a special mini, but I improvised (after failing to find something suitable near to hand).
The two wizards were looting the ruins of Felstad, as usual, but they had both heard a rumour that a powerful djinn was imprisoned in a lamp somewhere in the area. Both wizards want it, lets just hope it will be friendly (Spoiler: it wasn't)
The field of play; the warbands face off against each other
Hakon, Enchanter Extraordinaire (second right) and some of his band
Orangorn (second left) and band. Note the sneaky elf taking advantage of a lofty perch.
Orangorn's warband moves forwards, aiming for the treasure in the nearby house and the more valuable loot in the Skull Temple. He cast Wizard Eye (the blue crystal) on a wall, allowing him to stay in cover behind the Skull Temple platform and causing me problems throughout the game.
Hakon's band advance, ready to claim two nearby treasures, while he uses telekinesis to bring a third treasure closer.
A snow leopard arrives to trouble Hakon's warband, killing one thug before later being dispatched by another. Meanwhile, his soldiers begin their assault on the central platform.
The elven twins? brothers? keep up a constant stream of annoying, if ultimately largely ineffective, bowfire on Halfdan, my apprentice, and the soldiers under his command.
Orangorn's soldiers claim the central treasure, but one of Hakon's thugs arrives to try and take it off them.
The arrival of Hakon's knight spells doom for Orangorn's (wo)man-at-arms.
After being Pushed off his perch, one of the elves joins his kin to shoot (again, largely ineffectively) at Hakon's man-at-arms.
Thug vs thief: Both rolled a 20, automatically hitting and causing double damage, and kill each other.
The djinn appears, easily killing the tracker who rubbed the lamp, despite Hakon enchanting his staff to give him a chance.
The djinn chases after Orangorn's crossbowman after taking out Hakon's knight (also armed with a newly enchanted weapon).
As usual, I got so wrapped up in the game that I failed to take any pictures of the end turns. The djinn was unstoppable, though my knight did hurt it. The djinn rolled a 20, but my knight beat it's score thanks to a higher Fight value. The natural 20 meant that the knight was hit as well, killing him. Closer post game reading of the rules says that the natural 20 trumps the knight's higher score, but there would have been no change to the result, the knight still died.
After that, the djinn turned it's attention to Grim's warband, killing a sacrificial crossbowman. At this point we called time, Hakon had three treasures, due partly to good use of Telekinesis on treasure tokens. In fact I had planned to use Telekinisis to move the djinn's lamp once it had been revealed, but forgot in the excitement, and threw the knight into combat needlessly. Ah well, heat of the moment. Orangorn got two treasures, but that included the double value one from the centre of the Temple of Skulls. Hakon also benefited from retrieving the lamp. Sadly, two of Hakon's gang didn't make it out of the ruins, one of the thugs and the man-at-arms. I suspect that Hakon is more concerned about the enchanted sword the MaA was carrying, he'll just have to try and Embed one of the enchantments cast during the game before his next foray. He also has a couple more soldiers too injured to accompany him next time (or 'malingering', in Old Norse), including the knight, so there will be some recruitment before the next game. Treasure-wise Hakon gained 170 gold crowns, and sold the lamp, once he had finished inspecting it, for more gold. He also has three more scrolls and a couple more grimoires and is now level 5. Orangorn also lost two soldiers and is now level 4.
This was definitely the most fun game of Frostgrave I've yet had. The action was exciting, with many cinematic moments. I'll definitely try and get some more games in again soon, and I ordered a copy of the second edition rules, which I understand are back compatible with all the scenario books. One of the changes is the way in which experience is gained, I might compare the two systems to see how Hakon would have fared under the new system once the book turns up.
Sounds like an eventful and great game. It will be interesting to hear how you get on with v2.
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed.
DeleteI think we'll stick with first edition for the next game, then discuss which suits us best going forward.