A Less-Than-Frosty Frostgrave

 I went out and met up with Set (the host of our fizzled Dracula's America campaign, with an absolutely awe-inspiring terrain collection) for a game of Frostgrave today - or rather, a game of houseruled Frostgrave, incorporating some aspects of "Ghost Archipelago" and in a homebrew setting. As you can see, there's not much frost on the table!

 I brought a wargame comprised of some of my recent samurai figures, whose snow-covered bases wouldn't have been out of place in the game's original setting. We had a multi-faceted mission - hobgoblins had been raiding caravans and taking captives, and the merchants were paying for dead hobgoblins, rescued captives and retrieved artifacts. Rather than "treasure tokens," there were investigative tokens strewn across the table  - once we interacted with these, they might yield treasure, a monster, or nothing at all. 

Early on in the game, one of Set's warband members interacted with one that yielded a monster, and a roll on the table yielded a pterodactyl that over the course of the game ended up taking out a third of his warband, including his wizard.

 Meanwhile, my crew accidentally brought a pair of armored skeletons and an ogre on to the table.

 I won't get into a direct play by play here, since a lot of the particulars of what happened when seeped out of my brain on the half hour drive home. But the overall gist is that we originally focused on our objectives - taking down hobgoblins and collecting treasure. One of my Thieves unlocked the cage the captives were in, and with the help of one of my Thugs, began ushering the two captives to freedom. 

And then we started trying to kill each other. I inflicted very little harm on Set's warband, only managing to kill his warhound, while he killed outright or at least finished off most of my warband (at least, those that the ogre didn't splatter!). 

 At the end of the game, I'd killed two hobgoblins, retrieved two parcels of treasure (one containing one of the artifacts we'd been hired to go after), and rescued one captive, while Set killed two hobgoblins, retrieved two parcels of treasure (both artifacts) and managed to make it off the table with zero captives. 

 

In the post-game, my treasure resolved itself into a grimoire containing the spell "Miraculous Cure," a magic dagger that gives the wielder +1 Fighting, and 250 gold coins when combined with the rewards for the artifact and captive.  Of those in my warband who'd fallen, everyone made a full recovery except for my Archer and my two Thieves, who will need to be replaced before next game, whenever that may be. My Witch gained two levels, which I used to improve her Fighting stat and made it easier for her to cast "Curse" in future games.

All in all it was a great game and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully this turns into a more regular thing - in part because I visit Set's house so infrequently that I keep making a wrong turn on the way home that adds an extra three miles to my commute and I'd like to get accustomed enough to the route to stop making that wrong turn!