Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago: Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE:

Introduction

What You Need to Play

Miniatures

Dice

Crew Sheet

The Table

CHAPTER TWO:

Heritors, Wardens, and Crewmen

Heritors

The First Step

Choosing Heritor Abilities

The Heritor’s Stat-Line

Split Stats

Heritor Items

Wardens

The Warden’s Branch

Choosing Warden Spells

Warden Stats and Items

Crewmen

Standard Crewmen

Specialists

General Arms and Armour List

Arms and Armour Summary

CHAPTER THREE:

Playing the Game

Setting Up the Table

The Turn

Initiative

Phases

Activation

Group Activation

Stat Rolls

Automatic Success and Failure

Movement

Obstructions

Figure Facing

Movement Into Combat

Movement by Spell

Movement off the Board

Jumping

Falling

Swimming

Combat

Multiple Combats

Optional Rule: Critical Hits

Shooting

Modifiers to Shooting

Shooting Into Combat

Damage

Poison

Optional Rule: Wounded

Using Heritor Abilities

Blood Burn

Spellcasting

Empowering Spells

Resisting Spells

Collecting Treasure

Creature Actions

Small Boats

Moving Small Boats

Fighting in Small Boats

Boarding Small Boats

Ending the Game

CHAPTER FOUR:

The Campaign

Injury and Death

Crewmen

Heritors and Wardens

Permanent Injuries

Experience and Level

Experience

Heritor Level

Warden Level

Optional Rule: Balancing Scenarios

Counting Treasure

Gold Crowns

Herbs and Potions

Weapons and Armour

Magic Items

Map Stones

Spending Treasure

New Recruits

Buying and Selling Items

Optional Rule: The Market

Heritor Ships

CHAPTER FIVE:

Heritor Abilities

Random Selection

The Abilities

CHAPTER SIX:

Warden Spells

Spell Descriptions

Will Rolls

The Spells

Beast Warden

Earth Warden

Storm Warden

Vine Warden

Wave Warden

CHAPTER SEVEN:

Scenarios

Scenario 1: X Marks the Spot

Scenario 2: Drichean Cages

Scenario 3: The Abandoned Watchtower

Scenario 4: Blood Totems

Scenario 5: The Stone Circle

Scenario 6: The Eritherean Graveyard

Scenario 7: Swampland

Scenario 8: Saurian Breakfast

CHAPTER EIGHT:

Bestiary

Optional Rule: Random Encounters

Animals

Saurians

Sentient Races

Undead

Aquatics

Demons

Crew Sheet

Credits

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago, a narrative wargame set in a vast and mysterious chain of islands that appears in the Southern Ocean every few centuries, only to disappear again a few years later. Filled with steaming jungles, lost cities, deadly monsters, and fabulous treasures, it has brought great wealth to many explorers and a horrible death to many more. In this game, each player takes on the role of a Heritor, a warrior gifted with superhuman abilities, who assembles a crew of hardened fighters to adventure in the Lost Isles, searching for wealth and the fabled Crystal Pool.

In this book you will find all of the information you need to play the game, including rules for creating Heritors and their crews, how to set up a table, and how to battle for possession of treasures and lost secrets. While these rules might look intimidating at first, especially if you have never played a wargame before, they are generally straightforward, and most people will have a pretty firm grasp of the rules after only a game or two.

Games of Ghost Archipelago are generally quick, and you should easily complete a two-player game in an hour or two. While one-off games can be fun, it is by linking your games together into a campaign that you will likely find the greatest satisfaction. Over the course of a campaign, players can watch their Heritor grow in power and experience, see their crews develop, and, most importantly, tell the story of their adventures in the Lost Isles.

While Ghost Archipelago is designed to be a competitive game between two or more players, it is less concerned with being a tactical exercise and more interested in helping players achieve a shared sense of fun and adventure as their mighty champions battle their way through numerous dangers in exotic locations. The rules presented attempt to cover every situation that is likely to occur during a game but, inevitably, there will be times when the exact application of a rule to a specific event is unclear. In these cases, players should work together to find a mutually agreeable solution. If players are unable to agree during a game, they should appeal to the judgement of a third party if one is available or, failing all else, roll a die and accept the interpretation of the player who rolls highest. You can then discuss the situation after the game and decide how to handle it in the future.

These rules have been created for one purpose: for players to have fun. If there is any aspect of the game you want to change, any rules you want to add, or any ideas you want to incorporate that will make the game more fun for you and your gaming buddies, then please do so! Having fun is the point of playing a game, after all.

Finally, one of the best parts of wargaming is that it is a social activity. Even at home, players like to go online to talk about their games, discuss rules, show off their models and terrain, and just chat with people who have similar interests. Check out the Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago Facebook group and the Frostgrave page on the Lead Adventure forum. Also, to get all of the latest news and updates, take a look at my blog: therenaissancetroll.blogspot.co.uk.

WHAT IS FROSTGRAVE?

A few years ago, I wrote a wargame called Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, which involves wizards battling in the frozen ruins of an ancient magic city. That game has sold more than 20,000 copies in English, been translated into four languages, spawned five expansions, and is still going strong. Ghost Archipelago is set in the same world as the Frozen City of Frostgrave, and the game uses many of the same rules and design philosophies. They are, however, two completely separate games. It is not necessary to own, or even to have played, one in order to enjoy the other. Furthermore, while the rules are similar, they are not identical, and players who play both games should be careful to make sure they are using the correct rules in each game.

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

To play Ghost Archipelago you will need several things in addition to this book: a table, miniatures to represent your crew, a couple of twenty-sided dice, a measuring device marked in inches (’’), a copy of the Crew Sheet from the back of this book, and a pencil or pen. It will also be useful to have a selection of miniature terrain to represent the jungles, ruins, mountains, and marshes that are found in the Lost Isles. If this is your first wargame, some of these items might not be immediately recognizable and are explained in more detail below.

Miniatures

Miniatures (or figures, or models) are the lifeblood of the tabletop wargaming hobby. Essentially, they are toy soldiers, made out of metal, resin or plastic, often sculpted to an extremely high-level of detail. Official Ghost Archipelago miniatures are available from North Star Military Figures (northstarfigures.com) and provide options for Heritors, Wardens, crewmen, and many of the monsters that can be found in the islands. It is not essential to use ‘official’ miniatures to play the game, though. There are numerous companies producing top-notch fantasy miniatures that can be found in hobby shops or ordered online. Players should have little difficulty finding the miniatures they need. It is worth mentioning that most miniatures are supplied unpainted, and many wargamers find that painting figures is their favourite part of the hobby.

Ghost Archipelago is designed to be played with 28mm miniatures, which is the most common and popular size. Larger and smaller miniatures are also available, and it is perfectly acceptable to use those instead, provided all of the players are using the same size! Players using larger or smaller miniatures may want to adjust some of the distances for movement and weapon ranges to get the correct ‘feel’, but otherwise size makes little difference.

Players should do their best to obtain miniatures that match the characters they are designed to represent, with appropriate weapons and armour. However, this is not always possible, and as long as it is clear to all of the players which figures represent which characters, the exact appearance of a figure is not important.

Most wargamers mount their miniatures on bases. These are typically metal or plastic disks between 25mm and 30mm in diameter. In Ghost Archipelago, the size of a figure’s base makes very little difference, and players should feel free to use whatever base size they find visually pleasing for their miniatures.

Ghost Archipelago also uses treasure tokens. These can be anything from coins to bits of shiny paper, but players may want to invest in some miniature treasure chests, or the like, to make their tables more appealing.

Dice

Many of the actions your figures will attempt in Ghost Archipelago, such as fighting or using their Heritor Abilities, require the player to roll a die in order to determine success or failure. Ghost Archipelago uses a twenty-sided die (often just referred to as a d20) for all rolls. At a minimum, the game requires two d20s to play, but it is probably best if every player brings their own die. While d20s are rarely seen in most traditional board games, they are used in a lot of speciality games and are obtainable online or from most gaming stores.

Players might also consider buying a special ‘Blood Die’. This six-sided die is unique to Ghost Archipelago, and is used to keep track of a Heritor’s Blood Burn. While useful, this die is not necessary – the Blood Die is never rolled and is just used as a handy reference tool.

Crew Sheet

In the back of this book you will find a copy of the Crew Sheet, which is used to keep track of your Heritor and his crew. Each player will need a copy of this sheet. You can either photocopy the sheet from the book, or you can download a copy from the Osprey Games website (https://ospreypublishing.com/gaming-resources).

The Table

Once you have your miniatures and dice ready to go, you are going to need a table to play on. Games of Ghost Archipelago are normally played on square tables with sides about 3 feet long. In games with more than two players, you may want to consider increasing the table size, up to 4’ x 4’, to give everyone more room to manoeuvre. If large tables are hard to come by, as they are in my house, you can play games