If you're looking to dive into fantasy skirmish gaming without spending a fortune, the frostgrave starter set is probably sitting right at the top of your wishlist. It's a bit of a unique case because, unlike those massive, hundred-dollar boxes from certain other companies, Frostgrave doesn't really have one single "official" big box that includes everything from dice to terrain. Usually, when people talk about a starter set for this game, they're referring to the various bundles put together by North Star Military Figures or local game stores that include the core rulebook and a couple of boxes of those iconic plastic miniatures.
It's the gateway into Felstad, the Frozen City, and honestly, it's one of the most refreshing ways to get into tabletop wargaming. You aren't painting fifty identical space soldiers here. You're building a ragtag band of mercenaries led by a wizard who's probably in way over their head.
What do you actually get in the box?
Since there isn't one universal "starter box," most players consider the frostgrave starter set to be the combination of the 2nd Edition Hardback Rulebook and at least one box of soldiers. If you go for the official North Star bundles, you're usually looking at the rulebook, a box of "Soldiers," and maybe a box of "Cultists" or "Wizards."
The rulebook itself is the heart of the whole thing. It's a beautiful, sturdy hardback that doesn't just give you the rules; it sets the entire mood. You get the lore of a city that was frozen in a magical blizzard for a thousand years and is now finally thawing out, revealing ancient treasures and very angry monsters.
The miniatures are where the value really kicks in. The plastic kits for Frostgrave are legendary in the hobby community for a reason. They're "multi-part," which is just a fancy way of saying you get a ton of heads, arms, weapons, and bodies that you can mix and match. One box of twenty soldiers can be built as anything from lowly thugs with clubs to armored knights with massive two-handed swords.
Why the miniatures are a huge selling point
One of the coolest things about picking up a frostgrave starter set is the sheer flexibility of the models. Most skirmish games force you into a specific look, but Frostgrave encourages you to be weird with it. The plastic kits have this gritty, realistic-but-fantastical vibe that feels very "old school D&D."
If you buy the "Wizards" plastic kit, for instance, you aren't just getting two models. You're getting enough parts to make eight different wizards. You can make a Chronomancer who looks like a weary time-traveler or a Necromancer who clearly hasn't showered in a decade.
And here's the best part: Frostgrave is "miniature agnostic." While the official North Star figures are great and perfectly scaled for the game, you don't have to use them. If you've got a bunch of old Lord of the Rings minis in your attic or some random fantasy models from a board game, you can use those too. But if you're starting from scratch, those official plastic sets are some of the best bang-for-your-buck deals in gaming.
Getting your head around the rules
If you're coming from a background of complex war games with three-hundred-page manuals, you're going to be shocked by how simple Frostgrave is to learn. The frostgrave starter set materials focus on a D20 system. Essentially, you roll a twenty-sided die, add your stats, and try to beat a target number or your opponent's roll.
It's fast, it's swingy, and it's incredibly cinematic. Because you're only controlling about ten models, the game moves quickly. You aren't sitting there for forty minutes while your opponent moves a hundred tiny plastic guys. You move a guy, they move a guy. It keeps you engaged the whole time.
The magic system is the real star here. Your wizard is the most important piece on the board. They have access to eighty different spells across ten different schools of magic. Want to leap across buildings? There's a spell for that. Want to summon a wall of fog to hide your thieves? You can do that too. Just be careful—if you fail a spell casting roll badly enough, your wizard might actually hurt themselves or even die. It's high-stakes and very funny when things go wrong.
The importance of terrain (and doing it on the cheap)
One thing you should know before you drop money on a frostgrave starter set is that this game needs a lot of terrain. Since it's a game about wizards shooting elemental bolts and archers sniping from towers, you need stuff to hide behind. The Frozen City is supposed to be a cluttered, ruined mess of stone and ice.
You don't need to go out and buy expensive pre-painted ruins, though. Because it's a "frozen" city, you can get away with a lot of DIY stuff. Some old cardboard boxes spray-painted gray and dusted with white "snow" (or just white primer) look surprisingly good on the table. Some people use aquarium decorations or even just stacks of books in a pinch. Part of the fun of getting into Frostgrave is slowly building up your own version of Felstad.
Starting a campaign is the real draw
You can definitely play one-off games of Frostgrave, but the reason most people grab a frostgrave starter set is for the campaign play. This isn't just about winning a single battle; it's about watching your wizard grow.
Between games, you spend the gold you found in the ruins. You can buy better equipment for your soldiers, hire more elite mercenaries (like Barbarians or Marksmen), and even build a base of operations. Maybe you find an old library that helps you learn spells faster, or a brewery that well, helps your soldiers feel better after a loss.
Your wizard also gains experience. They can learn new spells or make the ones they already know easier to cast. But there's a dark side: your soldiers can get "permanent injuries." That thief who's been with you since game one might end up with a prosthetic leg or a lost eye after a particularly nasty encounter with a wandering troll. It creates these amazing stories that you just don't get in games that reset every time you play.
Is it actually a good deal?
When you look at the cost of a frostgrave starter set compared to almost any other major wargame on the market, it's a steal. For the price of one single "hero" model in some games, you can pretty much get the entire Frostgrave rulebook. For the price of a standard starter army elsewhere, you can get enough Frostgrave stuff to supply two or three players.
It's also a very "low-maintenance" hobby. You don't need a massive 6x4 foot table. A 3x3 space (like a kitchen table) is plenty. You don't need hundreds of models. Ten per side is the standard. It's the perfect "secondary" game for veteran wargamers, or the perfect "first" game for people who are intimidated by the cost and complexity of the bigger titles.
Honestly, if you like the idea of treasure hunting in a haunted, snowy ruin and you don't mind a bit of chaos when the dice don't go your way, you can't go wrong here. The frostgrave starter set is more than just a box of plastic; it's an invitation to a game that prioritizes fun and storytelling over strict tournament balance and "meta" lists. Grab a wizard, hire some thugs, and try not to get eaten by a wandering white gorilla. You're gonna have a blast.