Two
weeks ago, I had the chance to look over the layouts for Frostgrave. It was a nerve-wracking experience. This was my last
chance to correct any mistakes or request any changes before the book went off
to print. You would think, after the dozens of times I’ve read through my own
rules, there wouldn’t be anything left to change, but I managed to find a
couple of spells where I thought the wording needed just a little bit of
tweaking, just to make the rules clearer. Anyway, the book is out of my hands
now, and, I believe, out of Osprey’s for the moment as it has been sent off to
the printer. The real waiting begins now.
However,
while we are all waiting to the see the finished product, I can, at last, start
to talk a little more freely about it and reveal more details.
Here
are the basics. The book is hardback, of a similar size to other Osprey
hardback wargames. It’s about 140 pages long; I can’t remember the exact page
count. It’s going to retail for £15 or
$25, which I think makes it one of the best deals in wargaming.
The
game is be supported by a range of miniatures that are being produced as a
joint project between Osprey Publishing and Northstar Military Figures. The
range will include 10 wizards and 10 apprentices, one pair to represent each of
the ten schools of magic in the game. These will be cast in metal. These have
been sculpted by some familiar names, including Mark Copplestone, Mark Simms,
and Mike Owen. Also in metal will be a
selection of the more unusual soldier types, such as the thief and barbarian. The
more common soldier types are going to be covered by a multi-part plastic box set,
sculpted by the guy responsible for the Fireforge plastic sets. This box is
going to have lots of options for making the rough soldiers of the Frozen
City. Northstar is going to be revealing
some shots of the figures over the coming month, and I’ll try to repost them
all here.
All
of these will be revealed for the first time at Salute. Northstar will be
setting up a display on the Osprey stand to show off the figures. Hopefully,
the layouts will also be there so people can have a flip through them. They
will also be running a demo game of Frostgrave over in the Wargames Illustrated
section.
A
week or so after Salute, Northstar will be launching a ‘Nickstater’, where
everything will be put up for pre-order and there will be a chance to get
special figures and perhaps even get new figures sculpted for the range.
So,
that’s where things stand at the moment. I’ll obviously be sharing a lot more
in the coming days and weeks, including any imagery I can lay my hands on.
Oh,
I can also say, the rulebook is definitely not the last Frostgrave product that Osprey is attending to publish...
Fantasy isn't my bag, but I must confess that I'm Intruiged...
ReplyDeleteGreat news. I´m very interested in this new ruleset, and the figures, after reading that Mark Copplestone has made some of them.
ReplyDeleteI don't usually do fantasy either but will definitely look out for this at Salute!
ReplyDeleteour club is looking at getting into this game...would non-human races (Gnome summoner or Orc witch) be out of place in this game?
ReplyDeleteany chance of the beta rules or quick start rules showing up before release?
Tom,
ReplyDeleteThere are no rules for using standard fantasy races in Frostgrave, however, many people during playtesting used warbands made up of dwarves and goblins. The various wizard and soldier types fit very easily into the figures available for these types. By doing it this way, it avoided any need to 'balance' the different races, which rarely works well in my opinion.
Unfortunately, we are now close enough to release that the publisher has asked me not to share the rules with anyone. The quickest way to get a set will probably be to join the Nickstarter which starts early next month.