Frostgrave

What is Frostgrave

Frostgrave is a fantasy skirmish game by Joseph A. McCullough, published by Osprey Games. The city of Felstad was buried under a magical winter a thousand years ago. Now it’s thawing, and wizards are sending warbands into the ruins to dig out treasure, lost spells, and power.

You play a wizard with an apprentice and up to eight hired soldiers, about ten figures in all. Games are short fights over treasure, and most of the game is the campaign: your wizard learns spells, levels up, and spends the loot on a base and better soldiers.

The first edition came out in 2015. The Second Edition (2020) is the current one: 224 pages, 10 schools of magic, and 80 spells, with art by aRU-MOR. Osprey says the first-edition supplements are fully compatible with it. A 10th-anniversary Special Edition came out in late 2025.

McCullough built a whole shelf on the same d20 engine: Stargrave is the sci-fi version, Rangers of Shadow Deep is his solo and co-op game, and Oathmark is the mass-battle one.

How it plays

Phases, not sides. Each turn runs Wizard phase, Apprentice phase, Soldier phase, then Creature phase, and initiative decides who goes first in each.
Group activations. Your wizard and your apprentice can each bring up to three soldiers within 3” along when they activate.
Two actions each. Move, fight, shoot, cast a spell, or pick up treasure.
Opposed d20 combat. Both sides roll a d20 and add their Fight. The winner adds damage modifiers and subtracts armour, and friends in support add +2 each.
Monsters wander. Creatures that nobody controls activate in their own phase and go after whoever is closest.
A campaign. Between games, wizards gain experience, learn spells, and spend their gold.

It’s all d20s, and it’s miniature agnostic. Osprey’s own line is “you can use absolutely anything.”

How to start

Get the Second Edition. $24.50 for the PDF or $35 for the hardback, from Osprey.
Grab the free downloads. Osprey’s Frostgrave resources page has the quick reference sheet, spell cards, wizard sheet, and errata.
Pick up minis, or use your own. North Star makes the official 28mm plastics, and its Get Me Started deal (£64.50) has the rulebook, soldiers, wizards, treasure tokens, and dice.
Want to play solo? Get Perilous Dark. It adds solo and co-op rules and random dungeons. Osprey has a free sample of it on the resources page.

Supplements

Perilous Dark (solo and co-op), The Maze of Malcor (a 12-scenario campaign), Blood Legacy, The Red King, Fireheart, The Wildwoods, Mortal Enemies, Advanced Spellcraft, Wizards’ Conclave, Thaw of the Lich Lord, Into the Breeding Pits, and Forgotten Pacts. All are on Osprey’s Frostgrave page.