“I could sail the Iron Fleet to hell if need be.”
Hello Westeros!
Today will kick off a series of articles about “A Song of Ice and Fire” commanders!
I will alternate between factions, and will start with the commander I predominantly used during the last tournament, the one and only Victarion Greyjoy!
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Subtlety with an axe
The third of the four Greyjoy “Merry Band of Brothers”, Victarion is a big brute, skilled commander of men and first in command of the Iron Fleet. Dressed up in black mail and a golden sewn kraken cloak, he is a fierce warrior at sea, boarding enemies’ ships and mauling down his opponents with his great axe.,,
In the books (possible spoilers), he is in charge of the attack on Moat Callin in the North, and after Balon’s death and Euron’s crowning, responsible for leading part of the Iron Fleet to Meereen, to bring Daenerys and her dragons to Westeros. Injured on the way during a duel with a Reach captain, he then meets Moqorro, priest of R’hllor… Healed by the mysterious man, he makes an offering of slaves to both the Drowned God and the Red God, by putting them on a fishing boat, which is then set on fire.
…
Yes, he’s a genius.
And an exceptionally fun character to follow… and to play!
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Victarion Greyjoy, the Iron Captain
First comes his profile: his ability “Furious Charge” will come in handy on the, you guessed it, charge, to make sure this action becomes devastating, while his order “Overrun”, harder to pull off, can truly change the whole battle at the right moment. Combine both of them to have a monstrous free charge!
The first of his tactic cards, “Rush of Aggression”, works perfectly with the goal of this commander: charge, and be sure to deal some damage. It is a great combo with his profile, making his units a constant 11” threat for your opponent, who needs to take the possibility of you playing this card at anytime into consideration. The addition of “Critical Blow” is a neat one, with only the Ironmakers having access to this ability organically, while the Vulnerable token on your own unit will often be avoided, with this card mainly used on either Victarion or Nute’s units.
The second card, “Assault Orders”, is the typical “Free attack” card, to which only a few commanders have access to, turning a Victarion list into a storm of attacks. Add to this card the base deck’s “We do not sow”, and you can potentially get a full-hand of free attacks, without even including Nute’s “Motivated by Coin” and the Swords zone! As an added bonus, faithful to Victarion’s ever charging stats, if you play it on his unit (or Nute’s), you can get a free charge instead!
The last card, “Sustained Assault”, is the final tool in Victarion’s offensive arsenal. While very efficient on the charge, Greyjoys can be very flimsy while stuck in combat, entirely relying on their healing capabilities to survive. They need to kill their opponent quickly, and this card helps with that. A 1 rank Reavers unit will turn back to a “7 hits with Sundering” killing machine thanks to this card, and if you have Victarion or Nute in there, can even get a charge bonus by rerolling your dice. Add in some of the base deck many ways to put some Vulnerable tokens, and you get the equivalent of a charge at full ranks with an almost dead unit!
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Units
The first unit which fits exceptionally well to Victarion’s playstyle is the Reavers. With Erik to provide them with some pillage at the start of the game, you can have a 7 attacks, 2+, Sundering, giving Vulnerable, monstrosity of a charge. Add Critical Blow for using “Rush of Aggression” and you are all set for taking out half a unit on round 2, which you could probably kill with some free attack afterwards. You will need to rely on some healing to make sure they can stick around for a second or third attack, their morale being subpar, but with all the arsenal provided to you in Greyjoys, it shouldn’t be a problem.
The second unit Victarion really likes is the Silenced Men, ironically. While his brother is the source of most of his life’s torments, his crew fits really well with the big man. While the Ironmakers are a great commander bunker for most generals, the Silenced Men fit Victarion better due to their Sundering and non-redundancy in the Critical Blow keyword of his “Rush of Aggression” card. They can be as fragile defense-wise than Reavers, but their panic resistance ability makes up for it, while bringing a good support to surrounding units (think Reapers and their Vicious). Their morale malus to surrounding enemies could help getting some panic tests in, which combined with some NCUs and tactic cards (“The Kraken’s Wrath”) could be devastating.
The last unit which I think works great with Victarion would be the Dervishes. Their movement of 6” give you an even longer threat range, and “Assault Orders”, “Overrun” and Wendamyr’s orders will all combo perfectly with their abilities. Their “Swift Retreat” can help you against some retaliation, and make even more damages from a secondary charge with the Vulnerable token.
While we are on the subject of Neutrals, one unit which benefits fantastically from Victarion’s cards is the Hedge Knights. With their Sundering ability, they are basically an even faster mid-pillage Reavers unit, and like all the keywords the Greyjoy cards give them. They will bring lots of extra-mobility to an already quite mobile force, and can really surprise your opponent out of nowhere (see my round 1 of tournament versus Stark Bowmen, 2 Wendamyr orders, 1 “Rush of Aggression” and 1“Kraken’s Wrath”, bowmen unit dead on the first attack of round 2!).
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Attachments
The first and obvious attachment synergizing perfectly with Victarion commander is Nute. The Iron Captain’s second-in-command comes with a great array of abilities: the first one, “Furious Charge”, gives a Vulnerable token to the successfully charged enemy, similarly to Victarion’s card. The second one is the most interesting and “unique”, as it allows you to consider Nute as his boss for tactic cards purposes, meaning: his unit can make an extra “Assault Orders” charge, without taking a Vulnerable token from “Rush of Aggression”, and can re-roll dice thanks to “Sustained Assault”. Yes, for 1 extra-point, you basically get a second commander. And to top it up, he even comes with the extra-ability “Motivated by Coin”, allowing him to make a free attack when using the Bags zone. Nute allows you some flexibility with a Victarion list: you can have 2 extra-offensive units or put Victarion in more of a bunker one to score some points, and use Nute’s unit as the most aggressive one of the two.
The second attachment I like is the Warsworn. In a Victarion list, your main focus will be aggression, which can end up dangerous as the focus on healing and morale gets lower. The Warsworn helps you to combine the best of both worlds: fight to heal. With the crazy number of attacks you can lash out, you can expect at least 1 to 2 wounds healed on your unit per attack, meaning that healing and morale become less of an issue. You will get better by fighting, which you is precisely what you want to do!
The last one would be Asha Greyjoy “Lady Greyjoy”. I did not try her yet, but both her abilities synergize greatly with Victarion’s goal: devastating charges and attacks. The “Sentinel” order allows you to get more mobility and a potential extra-charge, which you can guarantee thanks to “Rush of Aggression”, while “Gang-up” can allow you to share pillage more evenly upon your different Reavers units, since they will get their +1 to Hit in any case. Or can improve a 3+ unit to a 2+, giving you 2+ attacks across the board!
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NCUs
The first one, which has been advised to me for the last tournament, is definitely Maester Wendamyr. Not as much for his healing abilities (which as good as they are, can be found elsewhere), but for his 3” shift. Combined with a Victarion list and deck, this becomes 3 more inches of potential death raining down on your enemies. It gives your units an overall 14” threat range, if you use both “Rush of Aggression” and one of Wendamyr’s orders. Make it 17” if you manage to replace a zone on round 1 (which fighting against a Lannister deck and Olenna excluded, should be doable). This makes you able to position your commander unit much more easily, to use the precious “Overrun” order. I wasn’t convinced before, but after using him, I would say Wendamyr is probably the top 1 NCU to bring with your big boy.
In second place, Rodrik Harlaw. This guy allows you to fish (pun intended) for Victarion’s crazy attack cards twice per game, which can tremendously help you to get these sweet charges in early on. Due to the unpredictability of the cards you might get (for example, I got quite lucky on game 1, and very unlucky on game 2), he only gets second place.
In last, Erik Ironmaker excluded, it would be a tie between 2 NCUs, depending on the list you’re bringing and your dependency on the zones.
If you are bringing Hedge Knights, Stormcrows or Bronn, Petyr Baelish could be a great addition, giving you potentially even more free attaks, while blocking your opponent’s ideal zones.
If you are going full Greyjoy, Aeron could help with your healing, with the high number of attacks you should deal, this would mean that many more healing actions.
One that I didn’t try yet with Victarion but which I think could be fun would be Tristifer Botley. With the number of free attacks Victarion is able to get, to cancel the Swords zone on a turn where you are not the first player can give you a big advantage in attack numbers, with potentially 2 free attacks against 0 for your opponent. Add to this some “Panicked” and “Vulnerable” tokens to make these attacks count even more.
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List Example
As an example of a good potent Victarion list, I will put the one I used in January tournament (you can replace the Hedge Knights for another Greyjoy unit if you want to go full Greyjoy: Ironmakers or Blacktyde Chosen could be a good option).
Faction: Greyjoy
Commander: Victarion Greyjoy – The Iron Captain
Points: 40 / 40
Activations: 8
Combat Units
• Ironborn Reavers (5)
Victarion Greyjoy – The Iron Captain (0)
• Ironborn Reavers (5)
Nute – The Barber (1)
• Ironborn Trappers (4)
Asha Greyjoy – Captain of the Black Wind (1)
Qarl – Asha’s Champion (1)
• Ironborn Bowmen (4)
• Hedge Knights (7)
Non Combat Units
• Erik Ironmaker (4)
• Wendamyr (4)
• Rodrik Harlaw (4)
This list is ideal for scenarios like “Clash of Kings”, due to the high number of activations and full aggressiveness, combined with the lack of defense of the commander’s unit (helping him to get back on the table unpredictably).
The 2 units of Reavers are the main damage dealers, with the Hedge Knights able to pick up fights with flanking enemies and coming out on top thanks to the Greyjoy cards. The Trappers are either used to hunt enemy attachments with Qarl or hold an objective. The Bowmen provide the last cheap unit activation, while giving you some range support.
The 3 NCUs all support Victarion’s constant offensive need, from pillage tokens to tactic cards and increased mobility.
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How to sail the Dothraki Sea
The main strength of Victarion commander is his attack potential. With his tactics cards, he can get auto-charges, more charges and better attacks, while his profile card allows him to get stronger charges and even more charges. Yes, that was a very charged sentence…
All of this means that you need to get him rolling, which you can only do by attacking weaker units. If he gets stuck into combat with a defensive bunker, chances are that the momentum Victarion needs will be over, potentially costing you the game. In order to avoid this, placing him on a flank, in front of a defense 4 or 5 unit would be a good option. You will usually have him in a unit with Sundering, so that passable defense will turn into a 5 or 6, which means easy killings, which means Pillage tokens. Being on the flank will further more allow you to use his “Overrun” ability, one of the strongest but hardest to set up ones in the game.
Nute having the ability to use Victarion’s tactics cards helps you greatly in this set up. Put one of them on each flank, and your opponent will have trouble choosing which one to deal with: the one with a potential extra-attack or the one with a potential “Overrun”? You willneed a strong center to protect them from potential flank attacks, but Greyjoys now have access to a lot of units and attachments who can fill the bunker role.
The last important thing would be to bring 3 NCUs. It is usually better in many builds, but with Victarion it becomes all the more useful, due to his zone replacement card “Assault Order”. With the “We do not sow” one from the Greyjoy Tactics Deck, it makes a fifth of the deckzone replacement cards, so you will need to be able to use them.
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Victarion Greyjoy, Captain of the Iron Victory
An article series about the Lord Captain would not be complete without talking about his attachment option “Victarion Greyjoy, Captain of the Iron Victory”.
For 3 points, this option gives you access to the cheapest activation way in the game thanks to his Order: Relentless. This is the only bad thing about bringing Victarion commander: you won’t have access to this attachment option (no character duplicates allowed).
Before the recent February update, I would have advised to put him in a unit of Bowmen, for extra-shooting and great maneuvering. However, the “Relentless” order has now been changed to work on melee attacks only.
The melee option is still good in the sense that you will be able to put the token and do some damage. However, the fact that it only gives an attack, and not a charge, is very easy to fight against in my opinion. You will charge with your normal activation, but then the enemy will have many options, including retreating, thus wasting your attack order and only allowing you to maneuver. So basically, better to charge already activated units to get a maximum of attack actions.
Some good units to put him in would be ones that could benefit from destroying ranks quickly, with a Pillage mechanics. With your potential of 2 attacks, you will be assured to get at least 1 pillage from them, maybe even 2. It is a costly attachment however, so you may not want to put him in a too flimsy unit (unless you have Balon, in which case letting him die early is not a problem, since he will come back on a flank and maneuver straight away). Putting him in Ironmakers could turn your unkillable bunker into a real tank, or in Reavers with Balon for a more kamikaze approach.
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Showcase
Victarion is described in the books as having a gold cloth cloak, sewn like the Greyjoy kraken. His warhelm is black and decorated with an iron kraken. I decided to go for this approach for mine, following the lore-accurate description of Greyjoys wearing black and gold clothes.
I wasn’t a fan of the miniature on the renders when it was released, but after painting it, he grew on me so much that he became my favourite Greyjoy character to use! And after re-reading his chapters, you cannot not use him, he’s just too much fun!
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There ends the first Commander article, please let me know what you thought, if I missed any important details or anything you’d like to see related to this subject! Next one will be a less aggressive one, maybe a proud lion, or a cautious flayer…
And to conclude, as our good captain says: “Words are wind, and the only good windis that which fills our sails.”
So stop reading, get out there and try him out for the glory of the Drowned Grob’!
Grob’
Chez Grob 