Frostgrave AAR: Dark alchemy mini campaign game 1 - Alchemical Monstrosity

 

Local gamer Garret managed to inspire me to complete painting a small warband for frostgrave in a timely fashion. Mainly he did this by texting me videos of him filling in a pie chart showing his own progress. In December we were ready to start playing. We have chosen an introductory campaign, Dark Alchemy, found in the Frostgrave folio.The notable changes are that it's cooperative, there is no downtime phase between games, and it's easier to carry chests. 

Garrets well painted set of (ordered) 3d prints certainly looks the part for a fantasy post apocalypse city. 

His warband is led by a Sigilist mage. My own (on the right) is more of a druidic tradition which seems to map to 'witch' in the game. 1st mission we can bring but 2 helpers with our mage or apprentice. Why wouldn't you bring you wizard? I'm not sure.....maybe story only. Or hard mode.

 

In the background we can see the other star of the game.......an alchemical monstrosity. The alchemical factory we were exploring collapses and catches on fire. We must move quickly and help each other to escape. In hindsight the monster should have been more like chaos spawn/john carpenters 'the thing'/protoplasm and tentacles. Oh well. 

 

1st turn we enter the board and this is one of the last photos of our partnership being entirely cooperative. Over the course of time the wizards, greedy beings that they are, start trying to cream off the easy chests from one another. Occasionally they help out the other with life threatening issues as well. 

The forces split up on a left/right divide to hoover up chests. My druid is, unfortunately, on the side that the monstrosity wanders over to. Some judicious use of fog and attention grabbing from the second story helps kite him and allow for continued advancement.

Alas the beast clambers over the wall and really screws things up for me. Garret meanwhile has beelined down the left, but has managed to encounter all the vermin (giant rats) that are building up near the exit. Rats know when to leave a sinking ship burning building so have been spawning steadily.....don't take too long!

 It's noteworth that most people remark on the swinginess of the combat. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, it certainly does make you enter combat a bit more hesitantly as nothing is for sure. 

 

Garrets mook is getting pulled down under the numbers of rats. They tend to explode pleasingly but occasionally sneak up your shirt and chew on your entrails bad die rolls can doom you. 

 

My wizard manages to 'Jump' (spell) forward to rescue the last chest but ends up botching a spell roll, hurt, and charged by the monstrosity. 

 

 

 

 

 

 He miraculously manages to heavily wound the beast (one of the reasons I'm conflicted by the swinginess is I benefited here). It was all a bit touch and go as the initiative in this mini campaign can have the monsters go first. 

I wasn't likely to survive another round. Indeed, I was unlikely to survive a poorly cast spell either. At 1st level most of my spells have, at best a 50% chance of working smoothly. I risk another Jump and hop to the far side of my mook (the free one that has terrible stats). Shouting something inspirational to the mook he races flat out from the beast. 

It's fair to point out my 'comrade' wizard cast a spell to help me cast my spell successfully, before scuttling out the door with his loot like a cockroach. I'm sure this won't result in any hard feelings. 

The dice turn again and the Monster charges into the heavily wounded wizard and his mookiest of mooks. Have at thee! Mirabile dictu! The beast is laid out by a final stab from the silver carving knife looted earlier by the thief (note ad hoc backstory created whole cloth). You deserve a name! Will you get one? Well it's been months and not yet.....

 

 Overall we had a good time playing. The rules were pretty fast to pickup. Some spellcards were certainly nice to avoid looking at the rulebook more than we needed to.

It's a rare treat to get to paint with fully painted stuff and in a game that won't stretch too late into the night. Certainly positives for playing this some more. We have 2 more games in the campaign before we'd reach a natural decision point about what to do next.