2021-04-11

37. Frostgrave sets in Oathmark (with bonus rules for Gnolls and Snake-men)

As my sons got 2 boxes of Frostgrave for Christmas (Gnolls and Snake-men), it was urgent to build them. But building without planning gets not 100% usage of the possibilities... Making a Frostgrave warband from 20 miniatures is not a big deal, but what else is possible? Using them in Oathmark is a pretty obvious offer. But how? First step of this planning is to set the limitations:


  • As the miniatures are clearly not heavily armored, there wont be any Frostgrave Knights, Templars, Marksmen, Warriors. And as there are very few spears, there will be no Spearman for Oathmark.
  • A full unit of minis, armed with the same weapons would obviously close out the usage as a mixed Frostgrave warband, so lets set a "First Row" principle: the equipment of the first row of the Oathmark unit sets it origin. So, if the first row is filled with soldiers, then the whole unit is considered as a soldier unit, independent from the remaining miniatures.
  • An Oathmark unit needs a Banner bearer, who is not usable for Frostgrave.
  • The fomer two preferences set, that four similar armed minis are needed to set the first row (plus the banner bearer).
From a set of 20 miniatures, these rules give the following combinations for Oathmark (OM) and Frostgrave (FG):

  • 1 OM Banner bearer -> equipped with a long spear / flag pole.

  • 4 OM Soldier = 4 FG Man-at-Arms -> equipped with hand weapon and shield.

  • 4 OM Linebreaker = 2 FG Barbarian + 2 FG Infantryman -> equipped with two handed hand weapon and the Infantryman gets a shield on the back to differentiate them. Yes, linebreakers should be heavily armored, but they are the only one, who use two handed weapons.

  • 4 OM Archer = 2 FG Archer + 2 FG Crossbowman -> equipped with bow or crossbow.

  • 4 OM Militia or Slave= 2 FG Thief + 2 FG Thugs -> equipped with knife or hand weapon.

  • 3 free to use for FG (I would recommend to make Rangers and Treasure Hunters, as they are the most used specialists in FG).

With these conditions and the "First Row" principle, its possible to have a lot of different Frostgrave soldiers (except the heavily armored ones), and four different Oathmark units (Soldier, Archer, Linebreaker, Militia or Slave). These were the plans, but we didnt follow them so strictly, but only small changes happened.
The Gnolls got one more Archer and one less Crossbowman (my son wanted so), and a Ranger, a Treasure Hunter and an Apothecary (crow is from Mantic undeads) from the remaining 3 bodies.
My other son wanted to have a pair of Wizards. So we made an Appertience/Thief (with a knife) and a Wizard/Apothecary (with a staff). Some skulls (from Zealot Miniatures) helped to give a witchy (does this word exist?), shamanic look. The Snake-men also got a Ranger and a Treasure Hunter, as recommended.

So, we have our Gnolls and Snake-men. They are designed for Frostgrave, so not a big surprise, that they fit there. But Frostgrave is race-independent (its utophisticly tolerant), and Oathmark isnt (what a shame). And there are no Gnolls and Snake-men in the basic rules... How to deal with this? The easier way is to use them according some existing race (in my opinion Orcs fit best for both).
The harder one? House rules! Its hard to describe them with the special abilities from the rules, so lets make new ones. My results:
  • Snake-men Soldier A5 / M6 / F2 / S0 / D10 / CD1 / H1 / Pts17
    • Special: Shielding (1), Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade
    • Equipment: hand weapon, shield, light armor
    • Terrain: Jungle village
  • Snake-men Archer A5 / M6 / F1 / S1 / D10 / CD1 / H1 / Pts17
    • Special: Fire Over, Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade, Poisoned Arrow
    • Equipment: hand weapon, bow, light armor
    • Terrain: Jungle village
  • Snake-men Swamp Scout A5 / M6 / F1 / S2 / D9 / CD1 / H1 / Pts19
    • Special: Aimed Fire, Nimble, Water Walk, Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade, Poisoned Arrow
    • Equipment: hand weapon, sling (blow-pipe)
    • Terrain: Jungle village
  • Snake-men Temple Guard A5 / M6 / F3 / S0 / D11 / CD1 / H1 / Pts21
    • Special: Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade
    • Equipment: two handed weapon, heavy armor
    • Terrain: Ancient Temple
  • Snake-men Champion A5 / M6 / F4 / S0 / D11 / CD3 / H1 / Pts68
    • Special: Shielding (1), Champion, Magic Items, Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade
    • Equipment: hand weapon, shield, heavy armor
    • Terrain: Jungle village
  • Snake-men Priest 1 A5 / M6 / F2 / S0 / D9 / CD3 / H2 / Pts60
    • Special: Spellcaster (1), Shielding (1), Fire Over, Magic Items, Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade
    • Equipment: hand weapon
    • Terrain: Ancient Temple
    • Spells: Nautral, Orcs and Goblins, Elves
  • Snake-men Priest 2 A5 / M6 / F2 / S0 / D9 / CD3 / H2 / Pts130
    • Special: Spellcaster (2), Shielding (1), Fire Over, Magic Items, Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade
    • Equipment: hand weapon
    • Terrain: Ancient Temple
    • Spells: Nautral, Orcs and Goblins, Elves
  • Snake-men Priest 3 A5 / M6 / F2 / S0 / D9 / CD3 / H2 / Pts270
    • Special: Spellcaster (3), Shielding (2), Fire Over, Magic Items, Cold Blood 1.*, Poisoned Blade 2.*
    • Equipment: hand weapon
    • Terrain: Ancient Temple
    • Spells: Nautral, Orcs and Goblins, Elves
  • Snake-men Priest 4 A5 / M6 / F2 / S0 / D9 / CD3 / H3 / Pts400
    • Special: Spellcaster (4), Shielding (2), Fire Over, Magic Items, Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade
    • Equipment: hand weapon
    • Terrain: Ancient Temple
    • Spells: Nautral, Orcs and Goblins, Elves
  • Snake-men Priest 5 A5 / M6 / F2 / S0 / D9 / CD3 / H3 / Pts540
    • Special: Spellcaster (5), Shielding (2), Fire Over, Magic Items, Cold Blood, Poisoned Blade
    • Equipment: hand weapon
    • Terrain: Ancient Temple
    • Spells: Nautral, Orcs and Goblins, Elves

  • Gnoll Soldier A6 / M6 / F2 / S0 / D9 / CD1 / H1 / Pts14
    • Special: Shielding (1), Charge (1), Part of the Pack, Howling Charge
    • Equipment: hand weapon, shield, light armor
    • Terrain: Gnoll Kennels
  • Gnoll Archer A6 / M6 / F1 / S1 / D9 / CD1 / H1 / Pts14
    • Special: Fire Over, Charge (1), Part of the Pack, Howling Charge
    • Equipment: hand weapon, bow, light armor
    • Terrain: Gnoll Kennels
  • Gnoll Hunter A6 / M7 / F2 / S0 / D8 / CD1 / H1 / Pts15
    • Special: Nimble, Charge (1), Part of the Pack, Howling Charge
    • Equipment: hand weapon
    • Terrain: Hunters Hall
  • Gnoll Big One A6 / M6 / F4 / S0 / D9 / CD1 / H1 / Pts19
    • Special: Charge (1), Wild Charge, Part of the Pack, Howling Charge
    • Equipment: two handed weapon, heavy armor
    • Terrain: Hunters Hall
  • Gnoll Champion A6 / M6 / F4 / S0 / D10 / CD3 / H1 / Pts60
    • Special: Shielding (1), Champion, Magic Items, Charge (1), Wild Charge, Part of the Pack, Howling Charge
    • Equipment: hand weapon, shield, heavy armor
    • Terrain: Gnoll Kennels
  • Gnoll First One A6 / M6 / F4 / S0 / D10 / CD2 / H2 / Pts170
    • Special: Command (1), Shielding (1), Champion, Magic Items, Charge (1), Wild Charge, Part of the Pack, Howling Charge
    • Equipment: hand weapon, shield, heavy armor
    • Terrain: Hunters Hall

The new special abilities:
  • Cold Blood: No moral test modifier 
  • Poisoned Blade: In combat, if at least 1 dice is 10, the unit cause a bonus damage (even if it didn't hit)
  • Poisoned Arrow: In shooting, if at least 1 dice is 10, the unit cause a bonus damage (even if it didn't hit)
  • Part of the Pack: If there is any other unit from the same race in 6 inches, +1 Activation
  • Howling Charge: Charged enemy must make morale test (no modifiers), if lost -1 Fight 
As with the new special abilities and the characters I got further away from the official rules, there is more uncertainty in the balance as in my post before. So I cant guarantee that the point values really fit... But give it a try, and tell me, how it went!

2 comments:

  1. I like the rules for the Snake-men, they remind me of the old Lizardman rules for WHFB. Well done.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I also think, that they are easy, but unique enough. But Cold Blood can be a big advantage, so they point values are may not be perfect... Im not a game designer.

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