Frostgrave co-operative scenario

The scenario here is designed to be played as a co-operative scenario between wizard warbands and a non-player games master. It's conversion to a general scenario should be quite straight forward should you so choose.

The Thieving Beastmen

This is a sort of introductory scenario to a co-operative campaign or just a low level scenario.

The wizards have just formed their initial alliance and have camped in the vile outskirts of Felstad. The camp consists of many loosely associated warbands and only exists to give strength in numbers against intruders. The area has been plagued by many sorts of creatures and groups aiming to take any loot by force from anyone perceived inferior to them. As it happens our wizards return from an unsuccessfull reconnaissance trip just in time to see their camp in flames. Most of the people in the camp have been murdered and many others have fleed into the surrounding coldness. Your exhausted men are the only who remain alive and you quickly manage to track the final wave of the assailing monstrosities. They have stolen everything from the camp and your survival depends on what you can get back from them. There were a few groups of them and you manage to catch only one of the groups - probably because they have been left behind for some reason or another.

Set-Up

Requirements: seven beastmen creatures (or any suitable replacement)
The game is played on a 60cm x 80cm board (Americans can make it about 2' x 3' feet) mostly set in the wilderness featuring frozen ponds/rivers and hills. The wizards and their warbands arrive from a narrow table-edge (chosen by random or by the GM). Place seven beastmen in the middle of the board in a loose circular group having between two and three inches between each of them. Place five treasure tokens in base contact with five beastmen closest to the table edge from where the wizards start. These beastmen are carrying the treasure tokens. Select one beastman not carrying a treasure to be the group's leader. This scenario is designed to be played with two co-operating warbands of 1+4 warband members each (as suggested in the Perilous Dark sourcebook for Frostgrave). For more warbands co-operating, I suggest either removing one treasure token or instead add two or three additional beastmen miniatures for each additional warband. All the treasure tokens in this scenario are considered regular treasure; there is no central treasure. Deploy the wizards' warbands so that each miniature starts the game in base contact with the table edge where wizards enter.

Special Rules

This scenario does not have any random encounters. The beastmen are exhausted from the previous battle and only wish to get their loot to safety. The beastmen are strong but as they are exhausted their movement while carrying a treasure is cut in half. Initially the beastmen without treasure try to cut-off any enemies from reaching the other beastmen. They do not charge madly into close combat but secure the advancement of their fellows. The beastmen with treasure try to escape: if they can move out of the board via the opposing narrow table edge to where the wizards started, they are removed from the game along with the treasure. If the leader of the beastmen dies, each other beastman must make a Will Roll (TN10). If not successful, the beastman in question immediately drops the treasure if it has one and must use their next move action trying to escape via the closest table edge. The beatmen will try to take back any treasure tokens as normal from there after and will engage close-by warband members carrying treasure tokens if they are not carrying any themselves and any close-by beastmen carrying treasure is not engaged in close combat. The scenario ends if all of the treasure tokens have been removed from play (by the warband members of by the beastmen) or all beastmen have been vanguished. If the beastmen were all vanguished, all the remaining treasure tokens are retrieved by the wizards automatically. Do not roll random encounters when picking up treasure tokens.

It doesn't matter if the beastmen are controlled by a GM or not, it should be noted that the primary objective of the beastmen is to secure their treasure. Beastmen carrying treasure do not engage in combat if they do not have to but instead inch their way towards security.

Carrying treasure halves the movement for warband members as well; even if playing co-operative mode. This is to reflect the fact that the warband members are tired and exhausted from the hunt.

Treasure and Experience

Roll for treasure as normal after the game. Experience points are gained as normal for this scenario with the following additions:

+5 experience points for each beastman killed (to the wizard whose warband member did it)
+5 experience points to each wizard for each treasure token salvaged beyond the first one

Beastmen Profiles

You should extrapolate from the below profiles to suit your available miniatures. My beastmen figures have horns; if you don't have such figures, consider just taking that rule away.