Joseph A. McCullough continues to build on the supplements for the second edition of Frostgrave with a new book available to buy this week! McCullough and Osprey Games are taking us on a journey into The Wildwoods alongside new rules, new characters and more that can be used to enhance your Frostgrave campaigns.

Frostgrave: The Wildwoods From Osprey Games

If you're tired of just exploring the ruined city of Felstad and want to subject your Wizards and their companions to the terrible beasts that dwell in the lands around The Frozen City, you'll want to scoop up The Wildwoods and add it to your collection. Without further ado, let's find out what's inside this new book!

Traversing The Wildwoods

The core of this new supplement for Frostgrave comes with the addition of new "Rules Of The Wild". When heading away from Felstad and into The Wildwoods, your characters will find themselves confronted with a variety of different environments which will change up their games.

The terrain that you can encounter goes from Forests and Mountains to Bogs, Ice Fields and even more Urban environments. Each of these terrain types is rolled for when you dive into a scenario and they come with different mechanics which could be quite the splinter in your side. Thankfully, it's going to annoy both you and your opponent as you struggle through the undergrowth!

For example, venturing into a Forest means that line of sight is going to be an issue. Every table of Frostgrave should end up being packed with terrain but this is where you go overboard and make it a dense, terrifying environment. Additionally, any Wizard who casts an explosive spell can end up setting the forest on fire. Smokey Bear is not going to be happy. Conversely, if you explore some of the Bogs around Felstad you could end up vanishing into a hidden pool that opens up beneath your feet and swallows you whole!

One of my favourite rules comes when you explore Icy terrain. The ground underfoot becomes slippery and if you make more than one move action on a turn, you run the risk of slipping, tumbling to the ground and skidding across the ground, perhaps slamming into terrain as you go. This is going to be exceptionally fun when you're going up tall terrain elements and might end up slipping to your doom.

It's nice that the rules that McCullough has come up with for each of these terrain types are fun but not set up to massively screw you over. I like that they are going to make things a little more perilous but they don't feel like they'd get in the way of the fun you have during games.

You'll also find that there are rules including for venturing across dangerous terrain elements like rivers, ice floes, and frozen lakes. You might find yourself being the lucky fellow who ends up getting hypothermia! Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, there's also the chance to be caught in terrible inclement weather that ends up making things even worse! You start to question why so many followers would end up going off on adventures with these Wizards.

Keeping The Troops Fed

One of the other dangers of heading out into The Wildwoods is that you need to maintain your supplies. Away from Felstad and lost in the wilderness you don't have ready access to traders and so you'll have to make sure you have supplies enough to keep your companions fed. Anyone who isn't kept going with enough food goes into their next games with lower health and will. Obviously, that means that the further you go from home, the harder your adventures are going to be. Will you risk it all in order to gain that magical gem that your Wizard has been craving?

Thankfully, as well as having to shove cram into their backpacks, warbands are also able to pick up a Cargo Transport which should be modelled and shown on the tabletop when you set up during scenarios. It's a great chance to do some kitbashing and tinkering with the various Frostgrave kits and it might end up being the talisman of good luck you need!

Your Cargo Transport can be a target for your enemies and it might benefit you in a long campaign to destroy the supplies of your hated Wizard foe. Thankfully, the Cargo Transport can also be upgraded so you can make it your home from home. Maybe that will make it an even more tempting target for your opponent.

Specialists Of The Wildwoods

With all of these hazards to deal with, it makes sense to bring some folk who know the land. Some new Soldiers can be added to your warband and taken with you to lead your Wizard deeper into The Wildwoods and indeed to the treasures that dwell within. You can choose from new Soldiers like the Guide, Trapper and Trophy Hunter.

Guides become experts in a particular type of terrain and are there to give you additional benefits and help when traversing those locations. Trappers are able to look after themselves in the wilderness and don't consume your supplies plus they are great at being able to trap animals and other prey during your games. Trophy Hunters are able to deal deadly damage to Trophy Animals but that does mean that you can't have any creatures that are vaguely bestial within your warband! It would be a little bit tense I'd guess!

It should also be noted that these characters and a variety of others from the wider Frostgrave collection can find themselves gaining particular benefits in different situations. For example, a Rangifer will be better when wandering through the wilderness and a specialist Guide is going to be perfect when picking their way through rocky outcrops or fetid bogs.

A New Frostgrave Campaign - The Tower Of Storms

All of these rules can then be used as part of a new campaign that makes full use of The Wildwoods rules. The Tower Of Storms can be used as the focal point of a new campaign or it can be slotted into a current adventure where your Wizards have been drawn to the tower in order to snap up the magical artefacts within.

There are six scenarios for you to go through and each of them makes use of the different terrain locations present in The Wildwoods rules. This is a great showcase of the different rules in action and they have been thematically linked so that you'll face down lots of wild animals as well as familiar foes that you've encountered before. It has been designed for two players but it can be played with more if you want to tweak things.

The Tower Of Storms features brand-new magical items, weapons and such that you can then bring back to Felstad (if you make it back of course). Maybe your Wizard will end up claiming some wonderous piece of treasure only to be found weeks later, frozen solid on the top of a mountain ridge.

Getting into this campaign might be very handy when looking to bulk up your collection for Frostgrave as a whole. You'll find each scenario being a good excuse to pick up and/or make certain terrain features as well as snapping up various monsters and beasts. All of these could then end up being added to the wider collection and used once you've finished Tower Of Storms anyway!

Creatures Galore

As always with these supplements, you'll also find a bunch of different creatures. You've got strange Bog Men and Firekeepers as well as Phase Cats, various Rangifers and powerful Woolly Rhinoceros.

Some of these come with deadly new traits meaning that you'll be coming up against dangers you've never faced before. I like that this will be a good breath of fresh air for those who have been playing a lot of Frostgrave and want to find themselves going up against very different foes.

Should You Venture Into The Wildwoods?

If you're an avid fan of Frostgrave then you'll get a lot out of The Wildwoods. It comes with a bunch of fun content for taking things to the next level in your campaigns and will freshen up the adventures you've been enjoying previous to this by taking you away from the crumbling ruins of Felstad. As well as the campaign included in the book being good fun, it comes with a bunch of tables and content that you can make as much or as little use of as you see fit. As McCullough often says, it's your game so do what you like with it!

Let's Play: Frostgrave - Solo Battle Report (2nd Edition)

Let's Play: Frostgrave - Versus Battle Report (2nd Edition)

If you're new to Frostgrave, I reckon it's worth getting a bunch of games under your belt using the core rules first. There is a lot of content in the core book which will be fun to dive into before you go out and explore The Wildwoods. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have a peek at this if you're interested though. The tables for weather could be handy for just introducing into your standard games and you could use the terrain rules if you fancy going that extra mile with your scenarios. They're not overly complicated so they shouldn't get in the way when learning the game. But, get some standard games under your belt first and keep this as a potential next step as it could be a lot of fun once you've familiarised yourself with Felstad and its perils!

Will you be picking up The Wildwoods?