Burmak Dmitry - Frostgrave

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Osprey Games (part of Osprey Publishing),

PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK

1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018

E-mail:

Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

2016 Joseph A. McCullough

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Joseph A. McCullough has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this book.

ISBN: 978-1-4728-1574-3 (PB)

eBook ISBN: 978-1-4728-1575-0 (ePDF)

ISBN: 978-1-4728-1576-7 (ePub)

www.ospreypublishing.com

www.ospreygames.co.uk

To find out more about our authors and books visit www.ospreypublishing.com. Here you will find our full range of publications, as well as exclusive online content, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our newsletters. You can also sign up for Osprey membership, which entitles you to a discount on purchases made through the Osprey site and access to our extensive online image archive.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Artwork: Dmitry Burmak

Official Frostgrave figure design: Mark Copplestone, Mike Owen, Mark Sims, Nick Collier, Giorgio Bassani, Bob Naismith, Alex Huntley

Figure painting: Kevin Dallimore & David Woodward

Scenery: Kevin Dallimore & Dean Winson

Photography: Kevin Dallimore

Scenery Manufacturers: Adrians Walls and Cigar Box Battles

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Into the Breeding Pits, the second print supplement for Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City. With this book, players can lead their warbands into the vast network of catacombs, tunnels, sewers, and dungeons that run beneath the streets of Frostgrave. It was in these dark confines that the ancient wizards known as Beastcrafters experimented on living creatures, creating strange hybrids and deadly monsters, many of which still roam the forgotten passageways. It is a dark, deadly place, filled with traps both magic and mundane, and hideous creatures that rarely, if ever, venture to the surface.

This supplement is designed to present players with a host of new rules to bring more variety and tactical challenges to their games of Frostgrave. The first section presents guidelines for setting games underground, including rules for traps and secret passages. It also includes new rules for random encounters that represent how easily creatures that live in darkness can stalk their prey underground.

The book also contains many new options for wizards and their warbands. Rules are given for wizards who wish to explore the magic of the Beastcrafters, manipulating the forms of both animals and themselves. Also presented is a new category of spells Reaction Spells which add a greater tactical element to the back and forth nature of magic duels. Wizards can also hire two new soldier types that specialize in underground fighting and exploration.

Finally, the book includes several new scenarios and random encounter tables for games set underground, a treasure table filled with magic items, and an expanded bestiary cataloguing many of the weird and deadly denizens that crawled out of the ruins of the breeding pits.

As always, all of the new rules presented here are optional, and players should consult with their gaming group before adopting any of them. All of the ideas presented here are intended to make games of Frostgrave more fun and interesting and if players can accomplish those goals by changing or ignoring any of these rules, they should do so.

UNDERGROUND EXPLORATION

It is perfectly possible to play games of Frostgrave set underground using only the rules found in the main rulebook. For players who want more variety, complexity, and a greater sense of adventuring in the dark chambers beneath the city, however, this chapter presents several optional rules that help capture this mood. Not all of the rules presented will be needed or desirable in all games, and players should feel free to pick and choose which ones they use, so long as they agree so before the game.

TABLE SET-UP

When playing games of Frostgrave set underground there are two main ways to set up the table. Players can either follow the guidelines presented in the main book (Standard Set-Up) or they can use special terrain, mats or card tiles to create a dungeon (Dungeon Set-Up).

Standard Set-Up

A Standard Set-Up assumes that the game is taking place in some vast cavern or chamber that is at least as big as the table itself. This chamber probably once held a number of buildings or structures that have now fallen to ruin. Or perhaps the chamber was once one giant building itself, divided by many internal walls that are now broken or crumbling away. In either case, the table should still be packed full of ruins, with very few areas of unbroken line of sight. Players should note the rules for Doors and Doorways and Ceilings, and are otherwise free to select any of the other optional underground rules presented below.

Dungeon Set-Up

Some players may own special terrain, mats or card tiles that they can use to create a Dungeon Set-Up. This is a series of rooms connected by passageways, all of which are assumed to be fully enclosed by earth and rock. The main difference with a Dungeon Set-Up is the inclusion of dead space areas of the table that represent solid earth or rock and are only accessible to certain figures (e.g. Immaterial or Burrowing creatures). Dungeon Set-Ups have a few special rules that are discussed in the Ceilings and Secret Passages sections below.

Furthermore, a Dungeon Set-Up affects certain spells as follows:

CRUMBLE

This spell has no effect on an area of dead space.

LEAP

Since all Dungeon Set-Ups are assumed to have ceilings, it is not possible to Leap over or through an area of dead space.