Ba Boom

Mizar was nervous. They had come a long way and were getting close to the exit. The day had started badly with the death of Lord Falstaff. Yes, yes a lack of concentration and a wayward Inferno Blast, but these things happen. Mizar steadied the group. He sensed danger behind the closed door.

"Now can we be clear - who has the Dragon Bile and who has the Torch? We will only get one shot at this"

The gathering menace

"One, two, three". Boom, and the door shattered. The Dragon Bile was tossed forward and Mizar lit it up with his Flaming Great Sword before diving for cover. Whoosh, and the very air seemed to burn.

Clearance

Mizar peeked his head around the corner. It had worked. The way was clear and the exit in sight.

Ultrared

Mizar has become my first Ultrared Survivor. He levelled into he orange twice, thereby picking up the second upgrade. That is 43 + 20 kills in one game!

Wulfsburg - the beginning

Yes, I finally got myself into a position to play. I didn't want to use unpainted Survivor models so I set myself the task of researching and painting a survivor crew.

First Wulfsburg Crew

As I have been discussing earlier in this blog, my first choices were Mizar, Redcap Rodney, Genevieve, Nelly and Lord Arnaud. This left me with one spot to fill. In the end I went for Lord Falstaff. He is very much Melee oriented and I liked the movement benefit granted by Bloodlust: Melee in that he can charge up to two zones to end up in a zone with zombies. He then has a free combat action.

My group had a free Search thanks to Arnaud, additional Movement through Nelly, heavy hitting with Redcap Rodney and Genevieve both of whom have +1 damage, a free +1 magic action with Mizar and a crazed charging zombie killer in Falstaff.

The opening quest is Welcome to Wulfsburgh. A six tile encounter that also uses the new Tower tile. Survivors on this tile have additional visibility. Good to give cover fire to other Survivors. Its like a bit of sniper overwatch.

The new weapons look cool and do a lot more damage. I was looking forward to trying them out.

Welcome to Wulfsburg

It had been a while and I really enjoyed getting back into Zombicide. My crew proved to be very effective indeed. The first Necromancer spawned and was trapped behind a closed door. He was therefore one of the last models to be dealt with and so took the Necromancer rule out of game 1. The Fatties were no match for my Survivors. Even with basic weapons I was able to handle them with the +1 damage benefit from Redcap Rodney and Genevieve. I just love Redcap Rodney. Looks cool on the board and dishes out serious amounts of damage.

The new Wolfz are a menace. They have three Actions and as such they can be awkward when coming at you through a crowd. They also tend to arrive in packs of 3-4.

The new weapons are amazing and it wasn't long before I felt properly 'tooled up' and invincible.

I didn't use the Tower at all, I just blasted my way through the board. High death rates had me in the Orange level and heading quickly towards Red. It was fine though. I felt able to handle the pressure.

The game feels very different. Lots more weapons and much higher levels of damage.

This is the introductory game and is probably giving me a false sense of security. I intend to run it a few more times just so that I become familiar with all the new weapons and stuff. Very enjoyable though.

Looking forward to meeting some of the new big bad boys. But that will be further down the line.

Search options for Zombicide Black Plague

As any who play Zombicide will know, the Survivors start the game with a low amount of pretty poor gear. It is imperative to improve this situation as soon as possible. The way this is done is to perform a Search action in rooms. This provides you with random equipment. The main issue is that in order to get inside a building you have to open a door. When this is done it activates all the zombies in the building who then start to move in your direction. You can only Search an empty room. So the first Survivors need to clear an area so that the remaining Survivors can enter the room and Search.

Its a dilemma alright. At the very point in the game when are poorly equipped you just have to open a door. This makes early searching very important indeed. It is good to have at least one character with the Search ability. This is a free Search action. This Survivor can help with the killing and still Search.

Also if you are lucky enough to find a Torch the Survivor can take two cards instead of one for each search thereby improving the likelihood of finding decent weapons. The issue is that the Torch takes up one of your two equipment options when you really want to have a weapon in each hand.

There are two Survivors that seem to be tailored for Searching. Both start with a free Search action and have the option to hold a torch as their third piece of equipment. So ideal for what is needed. I give you James and Lord Arnaud.

James

Lord Arnaud

A quick comparison reveals distinctly different characters for later in the game.

James has the option of +1 max Range or Spellcaster for his orange upgrade and then has two combat abilities or Spellbook for the Red upgrade. I suppose that this makes him a Magician as the Range and Combat upgrades are not exactly complimentary. But not particularly potent.

Arnaud on the other hand has +1 die Melee or +1 free Move Action and this is supported by +1 free Combat Action, Iron Hide or Reaper Combat. I think this gives a good range of choices depending on what the game needs. It is easy to see his Melee potential but if the game requires a little more movement then that option is present. When in the red phase you might also need Iron Hide just to survive another turn. I like the balance of options so Arnaud is in!

Slippery examined

We have played a few games and Nelly has been an important character because of her Slippery ability. This allows her to move out of squares occupied by zombies with no penalty. Very handy when the board is crowded.

She also starts with a +1 free Move Action meaning she is quick from the start and she can really get out of trouble when needs must. She is also good in Melee even packing a dagger as third hand held item.

Nelly

I had a look through the various Survivors to see who else offers this option and the results are: -

Hitch - who starts with Slippery and picks up +1 free Move or +1 free Melee at orange level. I am not sure about the Slippery at the start. In my experience this version of Zombicide is much more forgiving during the early stages. I do love the Bowie inspired model though. I think that the +1 free Move Action would be more advantageous to have in the first slot.  The effect is that Nelly is probably a better choice.

Inspired Hitch

Milo - he is an interesting choice as he starts with +1 Damage: Magic and has Slippery or Spellcaster for the orange upgrade. He has the option for Hit & Run, a +1 free Move Action or +1 die: Magic as his red upgrade. He can also carry a speed scroll as his additional hand held item.

This gives two clear options.  He starts as a heavy hitting Mage and this can be supported with Spellcaster and +1 die: Magic or Slippery with +1 free Move Action to increase mobility.

Apprentice Milo

I really like this little guy. He would be a great addition to the team. If I did choose him then I would need to get initial movement benefit from elsewhere.

Beauregard - He has Slippery as a choice but only at the Red upgrade, so probably too late.

Beauregard

Summary - I am liking both Nelly and Milo.  I might even take them as a combo and drop Lady Faye. Emmmmm much to contemplate.

Building my Survivor group

I have been building a group of Survivors to take on the Zombicide, Black Plague, Wulfsburg challenge. My first three have been Lady Faye for her +1 free Move action, Mizar for his +1 free Magic Action and Redcap Rodney for his +1 Damage: Melee.

Starting Wulfsburg Survivor group

My next addition needs to be able to deal some damage  from Range. There are not a lot of options really and I think that Genevieve is the stand out candidate. She starts with +1 Damage: Ranged and has good options for orange and red upgrades. I am liking +1 free Ranged Action and +1 to dice roll: Ranged.

Genevieve joins the party

So I feel that this has a nice balance to it and also can dish out proper damage from the start. Two of the guys have +1 damage.

Now I need to compliment these four.  I am thinking that a Search benefit would be good, maybe someone starting with a good weapon or maybe some more mobility. Born Leader has also been a great benefit in the past.There are lots of options to consider.

Of course, it would also be nice to include  one or two of the more magnificent survivor models.

A little magic - Mizar

Having had a good look at the models I really like the look of Inquisitor Mizar. I am loving the scythe and that tall 'dead pan' look. I plan to play him as my spell casting Magician.

Mizar

There are lots of interesting details to him. He is wearing plate armour and has the skull and bones hanging from his wait and there are lots of other nic-nacs. I even like his hair but  the scythe is the over-arching thing to like.

Statistics

He has a free Magic action to start with and then has Spellbook, all spells in the inventory are considered to be in the hand. This is cool because it saves actions swapping spells in and out of the inventory. And the final upgrade is Spellcaster which gives another free Action for Magic. Yip he is pretty cool. He can even have a Death Stike spell as his extra bit of equipment.

Can't wait to get him on the board.

Zombicide Black Plague - Redcap

I had a good look at the many new characters and some of the models are just sweet. I know from the games played so far that some of the weaponry favours the magician's and marksmen. There are some good spells and bows that really do allow damage to be handed out.

I thought that it would be nice to have some other options so I have selected a melee monster in Redcap Rodney and Lady Faye for her movement and Luck.

Lady Faye & Redcar Rodney

Lady Faye starts with a +1 free Move Action in the blue, the first upgrade is +1 Action and this is followed in the orange by +1 free Melee Action or Lucky (re-roll all the dice for an action) and then in red +1 Damage: Melee, Iron Hide or Reaper Combat (Can allocate an additional hit to a zombie in an adjacent square)

Redcap Rodney on the other hand starts with +1 damage: Melee, first upgrade is +1 Action. The orange upgrade is +1 free Melee Action or Reaper: Melee (Can allocate an additional hit to a zombie in the same square) then the red upgrade is +1 free Combat Action, +1 to dice roll: Melee or Zombie link.

I really like the Redcap Rodney model so he is first up to the painting table. He will be unique on the playing surface and he should really stand out. Got to love that axe!

Redcap Rodney

I think he will be great to have because of the +1 Damage: Melee. This will be good to handle some of the Fatties early in the game.

Zombicide Black Plague

It has arrived. My first ever Kickstarter and I am so excited that I am beside myself. So much stuff!

Zombicide

Some of the models are just enormous. I just can't see how they play practically. No doubt it will all be in the rules. Lots of interest and I have started the unwrapping already.

I think that my plan will be to have a read of the rules for each character. Pick the one that I really fancy playing and then spend some time with the paint brush to get to a playable standard and then - GAME!!!

Being an Elementalist

I thought it might be an idea to explore the options for character development for my Elementalist wizard.

Take that

Starting Out
I made the decision to be an Elementalist because I just loved the idea of throwing fire balls around the board. Casting spells in your school has no negative modifiers so they should be the main spells in use. You personality, as it were.

Elemental Bolt is favourite spell. It has a 12 cast, needs LOS and is resolved as a +8 shooting attack. That is a really potent weapon and I have already vaporised some of my opposition. A wonderful feeling.

My 'go to' spell is Wall. It has a 10 cast value and allows me to erect a 6" wall that is 3" high within 6" of myself. I cast this a lot in every game.

My third chosen spell is Elemental Shield. This absorbs 3 points of damage and can only be cast on me. It makes me more survivable.

My aligned schools are Summoner, Chiromancer and Enchanter. These suffer a +2 modifier when casting spells. The starting Wizard must have one spell from each school. I went for movement oriented spells.

Summoner - I chose Leap which allows 10" of movement. This can be great to get to a piece of Treasure early and then later in the game it is good to move soldiers carrying loot.

Chromancer - I went for Fleet Feet, target receives +2 movement for the rest of the game. Handy to cast early on something like a Thief who already has 7" movement. Turns him into a speedy dude. It is good that it lasts for the whole game.

Enchanter - I like Telekinesis. It allows you to pull treasure 6" towards you. This is great for getting at that final piece of treasure that is in the middle of an open space. No-one wants to run out there so you pull the treasure towards you. I have used it to great effect.

Neutral schools are Necromancer and Thaumaturge. These receive a +4 modifier so will not be used much in the beginning.

I went for Necromancer - Steal Health which allows the caster to take 3 health from the target and add it to your own.

And finally Thaumaturge - Blinding Light - Stuns the target so they can't cast LOS spells, fight or shoot. I figure there might be a last ditch need for this at some point.

Summary - I have made a wizard that has good offence abilities, that throws fire balls around the board and then has the ability to protect the war band by putting up high walls to block line of sight. I have also added mobility to the war band through my aligned spell choices.

Development
I have gone up 8 levels so far and have decided to improve the cast levels of my spells. This will help make them easier to cast and more successful casts in a game the more XP is earned. The improvement also help the Apprentice. You can only improve a stat by one point after a game and the lowest cast value allowed is 5.

My 'go to' spell is Wall so I have spent 3 points improving its cast to 7. I spent 3 points on Elemental Bolt so that it is now 9 instead of 12. It is my main offence spell after all.

Then I have spent 2 points on Leap. It is now cast on 6. Because it is in an aligned school it suffers a +2 modifier. But 8 is still decent and I find it a very helpful spell.

I have also bought a new spell. I went for Elemental Ball because it has an Area Of Effect that extends 1.5" from the target. Very intimidating and prevents bunching up.

Future Options
I am keen to get Elemental Hammer. This puts a +5 damage modifier on a weapon, when it next does damage. Ouch. I can see that being painful.

Other than that I need to look toward my Aligned schools. I like the idea of bringing more characters to the war band. I have already added an Inn and Kennel to the team so that I can take an extra soldier and a war hound. Enchanter has Animate Construct with an 8 cast value. This is cast out of the game and can add a Construct to the team. I also like Summon Demon from Summoner. This has a 12 cast value and adds a Demon to the team. I will need to get appropriate models. But there is time.

Ba boom, and another soldier is vaporised :-)

Wizard Type review

We have had a few games of Frostgrave now and I feel like I have learned a few things so I thought I might share.

The first thing to say is that this game is all about the Wizard. There are different types and they do different things so it is really important to pick a wizard type that suits your style of play. This is key to enjoying each game.

Casting - its all about casting. You will need to be casting spells every single turn. This is true for both the wizard and the apprentice. This will give you bonus XP after each game. It is how you build your wizard and warband.

This means that you will need to choose a low cast value spell, from your wizard school, that can be cast on yourself or the environment. You can't always see the opposition or indeed members of your own team so this is important. This will be your 'go to' spell. It will have a big impact on how each game feels. Over time this can change but for the first few games it will be very influential.

Spells having a low casting value is important especially for your Apprentice who added +2 to the dice roll. If you are casting Aligned spells there is a further +2 penalty so review your Wizard type carefully. Low value environment spells are the ones you are most likely to be casting.

The lowest cast value is 8 so it would be really helpful to have at least one spell in your armoury with this value. Not all schools have that as an option though so then you are looking at 10 as the lowest cast value.

Elementalist

I choose to play an Elementalist. (I have no spell option with a cast value of 8.) I did this because I like the idea of casting balls of fire. I have managed to do this only occasionally during games. My most commonly used spell is Wall. This is because I can cast it on any turn. I don't need to see anyone else and it has a casting value of 10. Another option for the Elementalist is Shield, which has also a 10 cast value, as this is cast on self only.

My Elementalist has become all about putting up walls. I did not see this coming so it worth reviewing the options before making your starting choice. I have done some of the work below: -

Chromancer has a few low value spells. Fleet Feet at 10 is the spell most likely to be cast a lot. The other potential option is Fast Act which has a low cast value of 8 but you need to have LOS.

Chromancer

Enchanter has a few options. Enchant Weapon and Enchant Armour with a cast value of 8 will be the low value 'go to' spells.

Enchanter

Illusionist there are a number of choices here Monstrous Form has a low cast of 8 which would make it an easy option but there is also Teleport with 10, Glow with 10 and Beauty with 10. So there are options.

Signalist has Explosive Rune. This has a cast value of 10 and is cast on the environment. It is like planting a grenade that can be set off by the opposition. A good option but not a starting 8.

Soothsayer has Awareness. This has a cast value of 8 and cast on self only. It adds +1 to Initiative rolls for the Warband. It doesn't stack but could be cast multiple times to have a successful cast bonus. A bit dull though for your 'go to' option.

Summoner has Leap. Cast value of 8. Move a figure (including self) 10". Handy to have. I really like this option and it is great for moving models encumbered with Treasure which slows movement to half.

Thaumaturge has Heal. Again this has a low cast value of 8 and could be easily cast all the time even on self. Again its a bit dull as a 'go to' option.

Then we have Witch.  There is a good low value spell here which is Fog with an 8 cast value.

Witch

And finally we have Necromancer which is tough. There are no real environment spells with a low value that can be relied on. This could make it tough especially for the Apprentice. Choosing an Aligned spell with a cast value of 8 is probably the way go. Witch, Chomancer, Summoner are the aligned schools, Fast Act, Leap or Fog are your options.

Necromancer

So seven of the ten schools gives you a 'go to' spell with an 8 cast value. This will give them an advantage during the first few games. It will mean a 60% chance of success versus a 50% chance if using cast value of 10.

The other thing to consider is that you are likely to spend your first few improvement points on your 'go to' spell. So it becomes more reliable. Of course because its more reliable you will use it more etc etc. So make sure you like it. I am kind of locked into Wall now and it can be frustrating in games.

Hope this helps you make your decisions.

Most of all just pick the school that suits you and have some fun.

Frostgrave Warband Development

I have had the chance to consider my options for developing the warband. There are so many ways that gold coins can be spent that the options are many and varied.

The first thing that I need to do is replace my dead Marksman, Cedric. (rest in peace)

I have decided to take a Barbarian. He is a hand to hand specialist with a Fight of +4 which is the most available and he comes with 14 Health, which is 2-4 better than other soldiers. He has low armour though, only 10. He has a two-handed weapon so I will be building a new model.

My wizard has reached level 8 and I have spent the points improving Wall (7), Bolt (9) and Leap (6). Leap is an aligned spell so I have to suffered a +2 making it 8 for my Wizard and 10 for my Apprentice.

The Dark Templar has had a better level of success when casting spells and as such he is a couple of levels ahead of me. He is level 10. His Wizard is more powerful and this could become an issue as we move forward.

I rolled on the Treasure table for the two pieces that I picked up. An 8 and a 9 gave me low gold coins but I did get a Cloak of Protection and a Magic Bow. I will give the Cloak to Baldric and my Ranger Edmund will receive the Bow. It is reward for killing the opposing wizard in the last game.

I have spent my gold on a Kennel, which gives me a war hound and then I have purchased a Magic two handed weapon for Barbarian, Uther.

Edmond & Uther with magic weapons

I have highlighted the magic weaponry by painting them blue and red with little flashes of white to represent magical lightening. The rest of the warband is quite dull by comparison which helps the weapons stand out.

War band after game 4

War band after game 4

In summary the balance of the warband has shifted more towards hand to hand with the inclusion of my Barbarian and the new Warhound. The Warhound is speedy with a Move of 8. I have improved Leap which is now 6. I used it a fair bit in game 4 and anything that improves movement is good especially if the soldier is carrying treasure as this halves movement.

Frostgrave game 4

The Haunted Houses

We had a great morning and needed the bit of lunch when it came. Lots to talk about and the hand to hand combat proved to be something a bit more devastating than we had expected. For our next game we kept the random encounter special rule, even though nothing had appeared last game. On a 16 or above a random creature attacks the person who is picking up treasure. We rolled on the scenario table and The Haunted Houses came up.

Haunted Board

The idea is that there are 6 huts represented by the cups each of which holds a piece of treasure. When you open the door (the handle) you roll to see if there is a Wraith in the hut. All very straight forward until we looked up the Wraith. Only magic items do damage to it. It doubles all the damage that it does (we didn't remember that) and it can walk through walls (we didn't remember that either)

We just panicked at the only magic can do damage. None of our soldiers had magic items yet so we had problems. We nearly decided to ignore that rule but didn't in the end. It would be down to our Wizards and Apprentices to take care of business.

The nerves started in again but I was feeling confident and decided to be more aggressive in my approach.

First round

I set-up on the right and put myself in 3 groups. My wizard took a group out to the right flank. I was going to use Leap to get someone quickly to the furthest away hut. I held a second group of 2 centrally and took the rest with my Apprentice to the left. I planned to blow by the third hut and pressure a forth piece of treasure.

Treasure Hunter has a look

I advanced the Treasure Hunter using my Wizard and put up a wall between the entrance door and party of opposition soldiers. Now if I could just sneak in and grab the treasure we would be sorted. I opened the door and .....

Wraith (looks rather like an old fashioned Genestealer)

Damn and blast and damn again. Also because I had moved and then opened the door I had no actions left to escape. He was on me.

He was on me

Not only that but my wall came down between phases. I had soldiers and an Apprentice bearing down on me. I contemplated using my new AOE fireball but thought it too risky. I would have had to step out to get in position and if I failed I was certain to lose my Wizard, but I was tempted, like really tempted.

In the end I put the wall back up and slunk away. There were 4 in the enemy party and if I stuck around they would soon be having shots at me. I would lose my Treasure Hunter but such is life. I did manage some success though, as I got a sneaky shot at the opposing Apprentice with my Ranger and she was killed!!

Retreat

On the other side things had also got interesting.  The Dark Templar got very excited and in a particularly aggressive manoeuvre came at me with everything he had including his Wizard. I was taken aback. I lost my Apprentice as they came bursting through a wall of fog.

Through the fog

But then I called on the great Orkish gods Gork and Mork to bless my dice rolling. This was hand to hand - Ork style. I sent in my Man at Arms, Thatcher. He has +4 Fight and had Gloves of Strength. It was a rolling maul and we were all having lumps knocked out of Health stats. I was surviving and beginning to put pressure on the opposing Wizard. And then it happened I rolled some amazing dice and the Dark Templar must have slipped on a banana skin because I had him!

His Wizard broke free and ran. My Rangers, who were now down to 3 & 5 points of Health tracked him down and killed him!! Oh Yes. Ranger Edmund  did the final deed. What a game. Breathtaking in the extreme.

We called the game at this point and agreed to only take the treasure we were carrying i.e. two each.

In the after game roll up the Wizards and Apprentices survived but I lost my Marksman, Cedric. Dead and gone for ever.

You know, I am just loving this game. It takes you through the full range of emotions. I will have some rebuilding to do in the after game. For the Dark Templar's take see here.

Frostgrave Game 3

Having played a couple of games we decided to step up the stakes for our third outing. We decided to play Random Encounters optional rule. This would mean that we rolled a D20 every time a piece of Treasure was picked up, on a 16 or more a beast of some kind was also discover who would promptly attack. All kinds of beasts are available and a dice roll on the table (page 110) decides what has been found.

We also decided to play a Scenario and rolled for The Worm Hunts. This meant that every time a piece of treasure is picked up there was a chance that a giant worm would also appear and the chances of it appearing improved each time a measure was packed up. Double jeopardy! The giant worm is a proper beast with +4 Fight and 20 Health points. Not to be trifled with!

We had learned, from the first days gaming, that it is important to really stack the terrain so that is what we did.

Stacking the terrain

We put the building in the middle to block up lines of sight and used all the trees we had . Next we placed the 6 pieces of treasure. I was down numbers for this game because one of my Thugs had been Badly Injured in the last battle. We were ready to rock and roll!

I chose to advance from the left and decided that the two pieces of treasure in the building should be my main targets. The building would give me good cover and I planned to use Telekinesis to drag the furthest piece of treasure towards me. The third piece of treasure was in a wood on the right so a set my speedy Thief after that and gave him two Rangers to act as cover.

Baldric advances

It was all working out to plan. We pinged the odd shot at one another but the terrain and the walls that I dropped combined with the fog dropped by the Dark Templar meant that it was all a bit cluttered.

But then the game burst into life with the appearance of a Giant Worm!

Worm Time!

It appeared when my Treasure Hunter, Victor, picked up the treasure that Baldric magically moved towards us. Up to now we had not got into Hand to Hand combat so this was going to be a new mechanic for us.

I bravely sent my thug, Signor in to help battle the creature. He was promptly eaten! I sent in my Man at Arms Thatcher and he had chunks taken out of him. And in its own turn the worm eat my treasure hunter, Victor. Jesus!! This was a very different game. Hand to hand is devastating.

I panicked and decided to take a risk. Baldric fired a fire bolt into the combat. The risk was that I would hit my own guy. I didn't, I hit the worm and it exploded into a mess. Relief!

The nerves settled.

To add insult to injury the Dark Templar pinged a shot at Thatcher who was now standing in the open, a bit shocked by recent events and on low health. The result - dead!

I was feeling completely wasted and the Dark Templar was giggling to himself. Everything was going his way. He was successfully casting spells, had raised his zombie, picked up some treasure and just had one more to pick up. I was down three guys and feeling like I just wanted to get off the board to lick my wounds. He was even pressuring the building I was in with five guys - but then - it happened as the Dark Templar picked up the final piece of treasure - a second Worm!!! (in the form of a Rat Ogre)

A second worm

Having just witnessed the carnage at my end of the table the DT a little on edge. The Worm promptly eat the zombie with the treasure and then tore into a group of three guys who had been pressing one end of the building that I was in. 

As I had just demonstrated there was little point in attacking this beast individually so the DT swarmed his guys over him and only with the benefit of numbers did he actually attack. A much better strategy! He was successful.

This also bought me time to get to safety. I dropped a few walls to cover my exit and we were done. An outstanding game of Frostgrave. I felt like I had been in a proper scrap and the adrenaline was pumping. It was time for some lunch and a much deserved cuppa.

In the after game I improved Wall, Bolt and Leap. Magical Gloves of Strength also dropped which I gave to my Man at Arms. I kept my Gold Crowns.