I played another game of Frostgrave tonight against Alex's Elves. Since this was his first taste of Frostgrave I felt like I should ease him into the game a bit. However since it was Alex, I decided not to put on the kiddie gloves. He doesn't deserve them!
The board- Humans on the bottom, trixy elves up top.
Turn 1:
Six treasure tokens were scattered about the board as the elven elementalist peered across the thawing city at his opponent and would be thief of his property, the human witch. Not wasting the initiative, the witch quickly dashed with his cronies toward the first treasure chest that he saw. As he moved for cover he took the time to enhance his barbarian bodyguard with strength, buffing his already legendary fighting prowess.
The human apprentice attempted to lash out at the nearest elven thug that she saw but instead caused herself to mumble some important words. This careless act caused a wound to herself. In frustration she ordered the crossbowoman near her to climb the tower for a better look of the battlefield, however she would be mostly useless the rest of the engagement as the elves stayed out of her range.
The elven counterpart on the other by the market imitated his master and cast telekinesis on a different treasure chest closest to the humans wizard and levitated it closer to the elves.
The humans were slowly watching the booty literally float out of their grasp. Both sides soldiers maneuvered into position with a few of them unleashing a few shots from arrows here or there, but they were hastily cast and all missed their targets.
Turn 2:
The witch once again seized the initiative pressing closer to the apprentice. He even cast bone fragments at the elven upstart, however the house he was hiding behind took the brunt of the blow. The witch using his spare third arm motioned for the archer next to him to follow suit and fire at the apprentice. He had better luck with his mundane weapon plucking the elven apprentice in the leg causing minor damage.
The elven elementalist decided that he did not want to have a show down with the witch as his barbarian was too close for comfort. He quickly ordered his treasure hunter and thug to grab the treasure near the witch and the elven mage quickly scampered up the staircase and fired an elemental bolt at a human thug foolishy standing in front of the witch's apprentice. The elementalist was dismayed that the human only took minor damage from the blast.
The witch's apprentice started to get nervous seeing the elementalist and two archers quickly approaching her position. Concentrating this time she raised some fog to cover her advance and hopefully frustrating the archers on the other side.
(Tissue paper for fog. It was the best we had...)
The elven apprentice stayed true to his game plan and quickly cast telekinesis again to continue to move the treasure away from the witch's retinue who was getting dangerously close to his prize. Once again to the growing frustration of me the witch, the treasure was moved closer to the approaching elves.
Soon the elves quickly ran to and secured any treasure they could find while a lonely human thug gave chase to try and slow down the escaping treasure. However unbeknownst to the human, an elven infantryman stepped around the corner to protect his comrades. The marketplace was about to get bloody.
On the other side of the town, the humans raced up the street under the cover of the fog to get close to the treasure chest that they could spot. One quick thief even picked up his treasure and began looking for the closest way out of this part of town.
Turn 3:
The human witch was certainly impetuous as he wrestled the initiative from the elves. He continued his slow advance toward the marketplace. He could tell that the elven apprentice was hurting. He wanted him dead! Once again he cast bone dart at the apprentice, but his rage to kill the elf was too great and took damage from his own spell as he improperly cast it. Again he motioned to his archer by his side to finish him off. The arrow was true however the apprentice did not accept this second arrow into his body as defeat. The witch was not happy...
The Elementalist advanced toward the human apprentice and wanted to demonstrate his magical might by casting a powerful demon by his side. However the portal to another realm was too great and he took damage for his troubles.
The witch's apprentice quickly noticed how outnumbered she and her small group was and needed to contain the threat of the wizard and two archers. The eagle eyed archers began jockeying for position to take her down with their arrows. The fog she had created would only be a minor inconvenience. She once again cast fog laying out a large section of area that the elves could not see through. But she knew she was only buying precious little time.
Back at the marketplace, the elven apprentice could feel himself blacking out soon from the loss of blood. He would have to do something drastic and heroic if he was to help prevent the witch from getting to the treasure. The young elf dashed from behind the old potion shop charging at the small band of humans. When he got as close as he could he stopped and attempted to bring forth an unholy demon from another realm to smite his enemies. Unfortunately for the apprentice, he was just that. A young elf training in the arts of magic. The spell was too much for him and the outburst of raw magic caused him to succumb to his last wound.
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Back in the upper end of town, the fog was becoming too much for the elven archer to deal with. They had to run as fast as they could to get on the other side of the cursed fog to help their fellow warriors. While they were repositioning, the humans were grabbing treasure and running away. The thief on the west end of town quietly and most importantly, unnoticed by the elves inched out of sight and back to the rally point with some undisclosed treasure.
Back in the market, with the eleven apprentice gone, the elves tried to run away with whatever treasure they could find. The elven infantryman attempted to hack apart the human thug but only caused minor wounds to him. If he didn't kill the human fast, the archer and wizard would be upon him too soon.
The witched again seized the initiative from the elves. (They apparently weren't that swift after all!) He saw an elven thug slithering away with his treasure and quickly and efficiently shot a bone dart through the back of his chest killing him outright. He ordered the archer to engage the remaining elven infantryman, but it took the archer's entire energy to engage the elf.
In the upper end, the elven elementalist was not suffering the fog well. He burst through the mist startling the humans on the other side who had just picked up treasure. With a mighty shout he attempted to bring forth the demon that would send the humans running. But his ability to cast it was lacking. He glanced around him at what he could see and felt that his soldiers were losing this fight. It was up to him alone to turn the tide. Sacrificing his own health he brought forth an imp into this realm to hopefully kill the humans.
The human apprentice could do nothing but watch as space and time ripped itself apart as this otherworldy creature appeared. She attempted to cast something, anything to stop it. However she was not properly prepared by this horrible demonic beast and she injured herself attempting to control the magical winds at her disposal. Luckily for her the witch's barbarian bodyguard jumped into the fray. He knew a demon could bleed, just as well as the dead elf that had attempted to kill him earlier. He charged the elementalist and imp, but could he get there in time?
The elven archers were now fed up with the fog. The closest archer to the humans took out his dagger and charged a second thief attempting to get away with treasure. The elf's rage was so great that his tiny elven knife critically damaged the poor thief. Not even his mother would recognize him now. The elf wondered if his heroics would be enough to change the course of the skirmish?
Finally at the marketplace, the elven infantryman was the last person to hold the flank for his elementalist pay master. He tried his best, but the weight of the archer charging into combat was too much for his skill. Being outnumbered two to one, he succumbed the blows against him.
The treasure in the marketplace was now firmly in the hands of the humans. They were preparing to dash down the street and flank the elementalist. The elf had no choice but to issue a hasty retreat. He would live to see another day and reclaim the treasure that should have been his.
End:
We decided to end the game here as it was looking bad for Alex. He said he would go one more round if he won initiative, but he didn't. In fact he didn't win the initiative all night!
I think Alex so desperately wanted to summon a greater demon that he just focused too much on that and not enough casting offensive elementalist spells. If he was able to blast one or two guys with elemental bolt instead of attempting to cast summon demon, I think the game would have been much different. Especially since one of those failures killed his apprentice.
In the end I think Alex enjoyed the game and I believe before we start up a campign he will have scoured the spell lists and will have a nigh unstoppable wizard. After all, casting magic has always been his thing!
Great write up and good looking table!
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