Frosthaven

Frosthaven – The War of the Spire (A) (29)

David Skelector Boardgame, Fantasy, Frosthaven, Play reports

The frosthaven campaign offers several mutually exclusive pathways, that’s great. We now have a choice to make: do we try to promote peace between the two warring Algox clans or, do we side with the war party and help annihilate the opposing clan?

Characters

  • Grayzill the Snowdancer (David) lvl 3, General Winter is on the field
  • Britney the Banner Spear (Mathieu) lvl 2>>3 a great leader, might be related to Bruce
  • Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 2>>3, Master of the 4th dimension

Math let me decide on the matter as I have an Algox character and all. But I really have a hard time thinking in roleplay terms in this game. I mean, after all this second character of mine will soon retire after only a few (in-game) weeks of adventuring, how invested can one be? So rather than rp the decision, I’m just going with the realpolitik/murderhobo ethos, let’s divide & conquer our foes in ruthless fashion!

I choose violence.
The goal is to destroy the magic spire.
Mandatory for the scenario is to split the party. Here’s the Blink Blade, the Banner Spear and one Algox ally beside them.
Now’s the perfect time for a morale boost, banner mode on!
Meanwhile, I’m on the other side of the map with two Algox allies.
« Pull. Watch you step! Hehe. »
The diminutive Blink Blade gets into a duel.
« He’s hurt, finish him! »
And now the Spire. Oh wait, is that a chest over there? Snowdancer whistles.
One big chunk removed.
Ew, the enemies don’t like that at all! Here they come!
Banner Spear: « Too late for you, I’ll meat grind this spire into oblivion! »

Closing Comments:

  • We had to finish destroying the spire in a hurry. Both the Blink Blade and Banner Spear were seriously depleted.
  • Lot of hazardous terrain for my Snowdancer to use. I could afford to be the single PC on one side.
  • The Banner Spear AOE attacks helped a lot to smash down the Spire.
  • The chest was really disappointing, I’m telling you!

Frosthaven – Under the Influence (120)

David Skelector Boardgame, Fantasy, Frosthaven, Play reports

That’s it, now that the Geminate has retired we’re all playing with our second character. Here’s another optional scenario, one that was unlocked by a particularly gruesome town event.

Characters

  • Grayzill the Snowdancer (David) lvl 2>>3, General Winter is on the field
  • Britney the Banner Spear (Mathieu) lvl 2 a great leader, might be related to Bruce
  • Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 2, Master of the 4th dimension

Remember the strange event in town when the Drifter turned crazy and slashed open our bellies after he did the same with his own? Well, now we’re investigating the source of this malign influence, right outside of town.

Guards and hounds from town turned murderous by the influence.
I guess it’s okay to kill them? Sorry guys, we’re adventurers, we’re not paid to ask ourselves morale questions…
Vermlings now, a lot of them! Quick, door manoeuvre!
We’ll kill them one by one hehe…
Hey, you’re not supposed to do that, that’s not fair!
And now the pièce de résistance, the Evil Disco Ball of Mind Control!
And machines protecting the Disco Ball while the villain flees the scene. Coward!

Closing Comments:

  • We’ve killed everything except in the final room, It was not necessary to win but we felt we had not much choice to avoid being surrounded on all sides.
  • The vermlings put us under a lot of pressure when they got a « jump » card that allowed them to get inside the room.
  • The Banner Spear is tanky, has superior HP and do good damage if he manages to be in position which is not always easy.
  • Can’t say that our characters have that great a synergy. The Blink Blade is a great hit & run damage dealer that mostly do his own thing. My Snowdancer is support with healing and some repositioning of enemies. The Banner Spear need allies (or summons) to work effectively. Our current group is functional/good but don’t have any emergent combos or such that would make it more impressive.

Frosthaven – The Ice Cave (111)

David Skelector Boardgame, Fantasy, Frosthaven, Play reports

Another side scenario, this one could be found inside the last scenario we did – an item we’ve looted is leading to further adventure with promises of riches. As my character is pretty much obsessed with gold I voted for this one and my fellow players were happy to oblige.

Characters

  • Grayzill the Snowdancer (David) lvl 2, General Winter is on the field
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 5>>6>>retirement, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 2, master of the 4th dimension

A magic mirror, that’s what we had found, but we promptly damaged it just as we were transported inside some dimensional pocket. Unfortunately this is no treasure-laden lair (dammit) but rather a prison of sort for a savvas called The Shimmer. The place is split into two symmetrical halves with some effects manifesting into one another. The incarcerated Shimmer is in both halves at the same time.

« Sorry Boson, you’re the new guy, you go alone… » Boson proceeds to get almost killed immediately.
The Shimmer knows how to create a mood! (surely if Math’s decors weren’t improving each time we would be sorely disappointed! No pressure.)
« You’re all alone now, the both of you. »
We’ve vanquished the Shimmer, even with his ridiculous amount of HPs. But look, here’s the magic mirror lying on the ground! What, you see a chest? No it’s a scenario item and thus, a magic mirror I tell you!
In a most fitting moment, the Geminate are reflected/doubled or is quadrupled? This is getting complicated…
Hey, we’ve killed the boss already, why don’t you just gently **** off?
The Geminate: « no it’s fine, more XPs yesss!
Finally we get out of the mirror world. Note how I didn’t forget to take a final picture this time, incredible!

Closing Comments:

  • The start of the scenario was disastrous for the Blink Blade but fortunately he managed to clear his side of the room with a bit of luck and then he could recuperate before going on.
  • Hard but well-designed scenario, with an unusual gimmick that gave it a lot of flavor. Could have given it a better title though!
  • The Geminate retires, the last of the original trio to do so. His personal quest (of getting 150 xps through cards) was also more demanding.
  • Frosthaven (as Gloomhaven did) almost always offers a solid tactical experience. The narrative experience is mostly hit & miss though IMO. This time was definitely on the hit side, the events (before and after the scenario) were interesting and flavorful.

Frosthaven – A Strong Foundation (65)

David Skelector Boardgame, Fantasy, Frosthaven, Play reports

Character retirement in Frosthaven/Gloomhaven can be quite fast, maybe a bit too fast. The idea behind this obviously is to have the possibility of playing every characters within the span of the campaign. Aside from trying a new character, a further incentive for the players to get it done is that it also unlocks town buildings. Now, if only we could unlock a merchant shop or something, that’d be great.

Characters

  • Grayzill the Snowdancer (David) lvl 2, General Winter is on the field
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 5, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 2, master of the 4th dimension

Our new friend, Boson the Blink Blade, convinces us of helping him with his personal quest that got something to do with a group of aesthers, weird ethereal beings, with this particular group even weirder than usual as its members act as a single mind. Stop talking in unison, it’s disturbing! Anyway, they want us to retrieve/save the Elemental Array, whatever that is.

Inside the Aesther Outpost:

Living Bones, Frozen Corpses and Snow Imps. All former members of the Ice Capades I think.

This one has botched his acrobatic figure.

Geminate and Snowdancer from afar: « Let’s go Boson, you’re doing great! »
Still more ex Ice Capades finishing lacing their skates.
This diminutive fellow is a killing machine!
The star of the show, Rime Heart, doing something bad to the Elemental Array.
Huh, yeah, one more pic showing us defeating the monsters would have been great!

Closing Comments:

  • This scenario is the start of Boson’s personal quest and leads to something else in 6 weeks of in-game time.
  • The Blink Blade looks like a stronger than average character, with interesting mechanics of fast and slow turns that accomplish a lot of different things in a single turn.
  • Rime Heart was a more beefy version of an Icy Wraith but it didn’t picked is more annoying cards fortunately.
  • Snow Imps are an absolute priority to kill as the brittle condition they give with their attacks make everything else very lethal.
  • Looting the final chest unlocks another side scenario, one with promises of treasure.

Frosthaven – The True Oak (70)

David Skelector Boardgame, Frosthaven, Play reports

Tredir the Drifter is asked to save the True Oak because some unhinged folks claim it’s not that true of an oak and want to turn it to ashes. Ain’t it all a bit excessive? Can’t each have their own oak and y’know, be happy and let be? And what do the squirrels think of all of this? Are there even squirrels in the frosthaven universe? So many questions…

This is the final scenario in the Drifter’s personal quest after which he will retire.

Characters

  • Grayzill the Snowdancer (David) lvl 1, General Winter is on the field
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 4>>5, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Tredir the Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 5>>retirement, versatile Inox fighter
While the Drifter rummages through his stuff and prepares himself, it seems like the Geminate is particularly eager to help save the True Oak for their own unscrutable motives (yeah, it’s for XP) … They rush forward, activate a shield/retaliate combo, inflicting heavy damage to the hounds and fanatics.
But they get in a bit of a pickle… The fanatics are firm believers of « an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth » maxim. Fortunately the Drifter joins the melee and bashes skulls left and right. I patch up the Geminate as best I can thereafter and we’re good to go.
And here’s the True Oak in all its splendor, assaulted by fanatics and Sun Demons.
I channel life energy and heal the sacred tree almost faster that he can be damaged whilst my companions kill the offenders.
More fanatics and their leader, the so-called « White Flame » sporting a flaming sword. Well, it won’t be long before he’s extinguished! Tredir uses the Decanter of Mist that he just found, reducing the ranged attacks of the Sun Demons and it’s time for a Firefly Swarm from the Geminate.

Closing Comments:

  • Math sat on the True Oak mini and almost crushed it before he could even use it for the first time!
  • I used the persistent loss card Cold Therapy that allowed me to do a massive amount of healing during the scenario. As the True Oak was considered an ally I could heal it and it finished with full hit points!
  • We had our first winter outpost event. An evil influence in town is leading to bizarre acts of violence. We ourselves fall victim to this when the Drifter disembowels himself and then went after us (successfully, we’ll be wounded at the start of our next scenario)! We were joking afterward that it’s much better for this maniac to retire and he won’t be missed!
  • The retirement of the Drifter boosted our prosperity level to 3 and that means that our characters can’t be lower that level 2 as of now, that means that I’m bumped up to lvl 2 and Guillaume’s new character will start lvl 2.

Frosthaven – Work Freeze (114)

David Skelector Boardgame, Frosthaven, Play reports

Here’s our tenth scenario of the campaign. I’m playing a new character, one we’ve unlocked previously. I must say that the retirement of my first character, the boneshaper, felt a bit too rushed (at level 4, come on!). That said I’m glad to discover a new set of cards with a completely different play style.

This time we do an optional scenario where we’ve been asked to help in the building of a road through the mountains, a shorthcut that will bring more commerce. The theming is a bit peculiar – we have access to explosives, which we’ll use to clear ice and huh, animals out of the way… The unstoppable march of progress I guess…

Characters

  • Grayzill the Snowdancer (David) lvl 1, General Winter is on the field
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 4, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Tredir the Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 4>>5, versatile Inox fighter
Hounds, Polar Bears, Snow Imps, the very nature stands in our way.
Time to use these…
More and more guardians keep appearing, there’s just no end to them.
We make our way further, still more beasts that hope in vain to stop our capitalist venture.
But the power of DYNAMITE is with us, we win by blowing everything to smitereens.

Closing Comments:

  • Damn if I was tired for this one and it showed with sub-par play on my part and also with my lack of notes…
  • I’m quite happy to be a bad guy in certain circumstances, but blowing up animals to bits? Yikes.
  • This was also a scenario that put a lot of pressure on us, we had to leave most of the loot behind us unfortunately. We were all three pretty much battered up at the end and it was definitely a close call.
  • Next scenario will be the Drifter’s last one, so we’ll have two low-level characters for a while. Good thing is that now Math seems to know what he’s doing with his Geminate and he was instrumental to our victory today.

Frosthaven – Crystal Fields (18)

David Skelector Boardgame, Fantasy, Frosthaven, Play reports

We played last week on a special scenario pertaining to Guillaume’s character personal quest (leading to his soon-to-be retirement) but I forgot to take the start of the scenario picture so yeah, too bad, I’m skipping it.

As for now we continue on the same path (there’s 3 main planned paths to the campaign each with some mutually excluding sub-paths), we’ve decided to focus on the Algox’s and we haven’t even dipped into the two others for the moment. I have no idea if it changes anything on the long run.

Characters

  • Miasma the Boneshaper (David) lvl 4>>retirement, minions: Bob the dead lumberjack and Raging Sally
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 4, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Tredir the Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 4, versatile Inox fighter
We stumble upon a scene of carnage; dead Algox warriors with weird gashes on their corpses. Of course they’re not dead dead and they rise up to fight us.
The Geminate is singularly motivated to kill an enemy the quickest way possible and they pull one undead Algox right into two traps back to back. That does the job!
We clean up the first room without getting a single scratch between us. Our confidence level is high!
And then we come face to face with a monster we’ve never seen before: Burrowing Blades.
They’re very mobile and often focus on the farthest target, moving around a lot and messing with our positioning. We definitely have some scratches on us now!
We find an Algox survivor on the last area, cornered by more monsters. We apparently have to save him
We soon find out that he’s not the bravest soul out there… The dude just kept his defensive stance while we have to do all the hard work!

Closing Comments:

  • The Burrowing Blades are really nicely designed, with very thematic cards abilities. They don’t seem to do incredible damage but they have some hard to predict (in a good way) tactics that can force us outside our comfort zone. Great addition to the frosthaven’s roster of foes!
  • The surviving Algox kept picking defensive cards round after round, resulting in him doing absolutely nothing useful and us bemoaning his lack of courage. That was funny.
  • Big news, I’ve achieved my character’s personal quest in this scenario so Miasma is officialy taking her retirement from adventuring life. I feel bittersweet about that because I had a lot of fun with this character and her necromantic powers!
  • Next scenario will be the last one of the (in-game) summer season with several planned events on the outpost phase. After that we’ll enter winter in the campaign and we’ve been led to believe that it brings more complications and dangers to the town we’re paid to protect. We’ll see.

Frosthaven – Crystal Enclosure (10)

David Skelector Boardgame, Fantasy, Frosthaven, Play reports

We’re back on track on the campaign’s algox thread as we’re now pursuing on our brand-new sled those who’d set a trap for us a bit earlier at the Frozen Crypt.

Characters

  • Miasma the Boneshaper (David) lvl 4, minions: Bob the dead lumberjack and Raging Sally
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 3, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Tredir the Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 3>>4, versatile Inox fighter

This time the Icefolks are channelling magic through icy « conduits », protecting them from damage unless we break these first.

2 algox priests and a guard, nothing to stop us there except for their magic protection. The Geminate start off the hostilities with a powerful Hail of Thorns, damaging everything nearby (and even a bit of collateral damage too!).
The drifter efficiently smashes an ice column with his club and then throws an explosive vial at another. Soon after the protection is down and we’re able to kill the algox
But we’re in for a big surprise as the Geminate steps forward we’re suddenly forced (pulled, slide down?) to another area just as we thought we could take it slow and steady. This time there’s an Algox Icespeaker (with the blue axes, nice mini), a tricky foe.
Again we have to break those damn ice columns if we wish to have any hope of harming our opponents whilst they suffer from no such limitations. The Drifter: « I’m so dead! » The Boneshaper: « Smash this inconvenient ice my minions! »
The Drifter survives to his own surprise but is forced back to lick his wounds a little. But T-Gee/Mina are ready to take over and get in the fray. I protect them as much as I can with a power I’ve just acquired, a wonderful not-gruesome-at-all Flesh Shield.
Meanwhile the 2 algox priests keep using their healing powers on their allies so the fight is a bit of a slog.
But we have greater resilience and determination than the Algox clearly and the survivors are now in disarray. My undead minions slay the last guard and the priests soon join him in whatever subzero afterlife he went.

Closing Comments:

  • Just realized that Math’s character’s names T-Gee/Mina are an anagram for Geminate… Well done Math, well done.
  • Because of how the scenario was designed, forcing us forward unexpectedly, we were a bit caught off guard for the big fight. The Drifter in particular was already at half his HP and kept saying that he was gonna die. Plus, we’ve left loot tokens behind in the previous area. Annoying.
  • The Algox Priests picked the healing card like 3-4 times in a row, slowing our killing, but not contributing much else to the fight fortunately.
  • As Math mentioned, all three of our starting characters have big hands of cards (12,12 and 14), which in haven terms, means we can survive longer and soak blows (discarding a card) if we’re low on HP. We can handle being in trouble for a while, even when it seems a bit overwhelming like it did in this scenario.
  • The Geminate looted the treasure tile and picked (at random) a Freezing Crystal, really fitting for this scenario, nice!
  • We’ve built the Lvl 3 craftsman in town and unlocked a few interesting items doing so.

Frosthaven – The Ruins of Solstice (104)

David Skelector Boardgame, Frosthaven, Play reports

Another random scenario, this one unlocked when we’d found a key in the Glowing Catacombs (loot deck). It gave us access to a strange pocket dimension where Spring and Winter coexists at the same time, separated only by a thin line.

Mechanically speaking the scenario offers something interesting as the board is split in two halves, with the Earth element always strong in the left and Ice in the right. Furthermore, monsters each have an elemental affinity and are vulnerable (lose 1hp) if they finish their turn on the « wrong » side.

Characters

  • Miasma the Boneshaper (David) lvl 3>>4, minions: Bob the dead lumberjack and Raging Sally
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 3, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Tredir the Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 3, versatile Inox fighter

Me and Bob choose Spring, you may go into Winter. (2 rounds later, Miasma fleeing from Earth Demons) « I’ve changed my mind, I prefer Winter! »
Tredir the Drifter smashes a Frost Demon to pieces.
My, my… Lots of things going on. The cloaked figures are dangerous dudes (Savvas Icestorm) and the very first thing they do is to summon additional demons, that’s troublesome. T-Gee/Mina kills a bunch of Faeries. Raging Sally is downed by two ranged (piercing) attacks from the Savvas, nooooo!
We’re slowly cleaning up the place, I heal the Drifter some more so he can get back into the fray.
One more area to go. Me and the Drifter aren’t in great shape by the time we get there. Fortunately the Geminate stil has most of his power and is here to save the day.
You know what, between mud and snow, this whole seasonal change is a real pain if you ask me.
T-Gee and Mina are quarreling over their body even more than usual today, what’s up with that? It’s left to Tredir and I to end this Solstice thing already.

Closing Comments:

  • T-Gee/Mina achieved a new Mastery after managing to switch between forms every single round. This and his numerous 2-perks battle goals achieved means that he has a LOT of perks unlocked for such a new character.
  • Maybe we could have exploited the 2 halves of the board gimmick a bit better. A team with crowd control-type characters would certainly have had an easier time.
  • Having easy access to the earth element in this scenario was really convenient for my character, giving me several boosts to my cards all along.
  • The Drifter had a whole bunch of curses put on him by the faeries, like 7-8, but he didn’t pick a single one of them, that’s some luck!
  • Losing Raging Sally in the middle of the scenario was a hard blow, hindering my capacity to ditch good damage further on. What I managed to provide was a lot of healing to my companions, something that the Boneshaper is surprisingly good at.
  • The Drifter gets even more xp than I now that he’s got a good handle on his character’s back and forth abilities.

Frosthaven – The Eternal Crave (122)

David Skelector Boardgame, Fantasy, Frosthaven, Play reports

We do our first random scenario of the campaign, one that has been revealed in a road event because Tredir our Drifter accepted the challenge of eating a Firepepper! Hurray!

Characters

  • Miasma the Boneshaper (David) lvl 3, minions: Bob the dead lumberjack and Raging Sally
  • T-Gee/Mina the Geminate (Math) lvl 2>>3, two competing hiveminded insect swarms in a single body
  • Tredir the Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 2>>3, versatile Inox fighter

A fortuitous encounter has led us to participate in an important ritual in order to placate a dangerous entity that goes by the lovely name of Hungry Maw. In short, we already found Fireppers – now we must find some special bark, the last ingredient in order to nourish nothing less than its Eternal Crave…

Or we could just fight the entity but I mean, we can’t pass the occasion to be chefs can we!

We must navigate a treacherous path with slippery ground, traps and ice shards. The polar bear roars whilst the snow imps throw snowballs at us, damn the little annoying buggers!
Poor skeleton Bob wants to join the action but falls into a pit trap.
I think it’s mating season for the polar bears, lucky us.
The drifter: « don’t mind me ». whistles
The Geminate and Raging Sally fight the bears as the Drifter goes further and gets a look at another area.
Here it is, our goal, almost encased in ice.
But some sinister force conspires against us and new foes appear literally from nowhere (hey you, yes you scenario designer, stop throwing curveballs at us!).
The drifter has the bark, now he needs to get back to the cauldron at the entrance and get on with the special brew. The geminate helps him get through another wave of monsters with a Firefly Swarm attack that kills 3 snow imps at once! Impressive!

As for me, I’m too busy stealing every bit of furniture that’s lying around, there’ll be not a single bit left after I’m done!

With a bit of fiddling we manage to cook the special recipe, the Hungry Maw is satiated and gets back to sleep. Success!

And don’t forget, what’s hot entering is hot exiting too!

Closing Comments:

  • We’ve had a much easier time with this one than the last scenario but it took more than 3 hours, longer than usual. Part of the set-up we didn’t even get to see: the room with the Hungry Maw and a forking path that has locked when we chose to go the other way.
  • There was a (mainly) mathematical puzzle at the end, our first answer was wrong but was taken into account by the scenario, providing us with another hint. The hint confused the hell out of me but Math came up with the answer, phew!
  • We’ve got through the entire loot deck this time with me picking up a big chunk of it as I’m almost always lagging behind. What can I say, someone has to do it!
  • Hey look! I’ve finally added the names of our characters! I guess Miasma is finally remembering who’s tagging along beside her undead minions…