Hello Westeros!
One more Starks game, this time led by the Blackfish, against the pillagers of the North, the Greyjoys led by Dagmer Cleftjaw!
The scenario this time was “Winds of Winter”, which led to a strangely tight score despite the state of the battlefield at the end…
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The Lists
Starks: Brynden Blackfish Tully in She-Bears, Rickon & Osha in Karstark Spearmen, Tully Swornshields, Stark Bowmen, Shaggydog, NCUs Catelyn, Sansa and Rodrik.
Greyjoys: Dagmer Cleftjaw in Ironmakers, Qarl in Reapers, Ramsay in Silenced Men, Bowmen, Drowned Men, NCUs Beron & Erik.
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The Game
The game started pretty badly for me due to my complete misreading of the game mode: when preparing a list, I didn’t pay attention to the “objectives not giving VPs except through Mission Cards”.
So all my units which were supposed to sit on objectives while Bowmen and Shaggydog did the attack work were basically wasted…
So lesson learned: READ THE ENTIRE PAGE!
Round 1 went peacefully, with everyone closing in and the Stark Bowmen making 4 wounds on the Silenced men.
Round 2 was when everything fell apart: I shot the Silenced Men with my Bowmen, without noticing that Beron was there… as a result, they only took 2 wounds instead of 5 (which was a really good roll).
The Greyjoy Bowmen then shot the Stark Bowmen, who then suffered an Ironmakers charge, killing them. One unit out. That was fast!
The next big fight was the Tully Swornshields who got charged by the Silenced Men. Obviously, they only took 1 wound thanks to Shieldwall, until they failed their Panic test and took 3 more wounds thanks to the Silenced Men…
On the left side, Shaggydog ran to take the Reapers from behind, so they maneuvered, leaving their flank opened to a Karstark Spearmen charge. And what a charge it was: 3 wounds in total. Brilliant!
Qarl was definitely not impressed with the Karstark attack, and on round 3, went for the kill, slashing Rickon down. Thanks to Osha, the Reapers took two more wounds, with the Karstarks taking 3 more.
On the right flank, the Ironmakers went for the kill, utterly destroying the Tully Sworn Shields in one flank charge, helped by Ramsay’s Intimidating Presence and the Silenced Men’s influence. The She-Bears were now alone against 2 units, having lost their high defense ally dramatically.
Shaggydog charged the Reapers on the flank, dealing 3 wounds. Qarl counterattacked the direwolf, dealing him 2 wounds only! Fantastic, I had “Assault Orders” in my hand, the Reapers were gonna die soon with 5 attacks from Shaggydog! Just need to pass the Panic test, but it’s a wolf, no big deal, right? RIGHT?
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Silenced Men’s short range and Reapers’ Vicious… I roll 4, I needed 6. Bye Shaggydog, I guess Rickon dying was too sad for you to handle…
I had 2 units left against 5, but victory points were a tie at that point.
I finally managed to kill Qarl thanks to the She-Bears and a “Set for Charge” (yes, I did lots of retreats and the units turned upside down)…
The rest of the Greyjoys units were too strong however, and the last man standing was the Karstark banner bearer, before finally being cut down.
End results: 10-9 for the Greyjoys!
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Conclusions
A very surprising score given the state of the battlefield, as it was a complete massacre for the Starks.
Bad rolls and bad choices (for example I should have retreated my Bowmen earlier instead of shooting for example, and pretty bad deployment overall) made for a terrible game for me…
Shaggydog fleeing was probably the nail in the coffin, first time I lose a wolf running away, especially sad considering he was going to take care of the Reapers in the next action…
Eric played his Greyjoys very well, the Drowned Men really are a fun support unit, healing most of the time and giving rerolls if needed. Silenced Men were probably the MVPs of the match, I lost so many panic tests because of them, it made Brynden look very bad in comparison.
Sansa was much better in a 3 NCUs list, I used her “Replace zone” ability once to get another “Assault Orders”, which was good for finishing the Reapers.
Overall, I literally shot myself in the foot from the start by not reading the scenario properly and not bringing some tough offensive unit, who would have taken care of Greyjoys much more efficiently.
Unfortunately for the Starks, playing against Greyjoys reminded me how much I enjoy them, and with my newest Greyjoys being close to painted, I might abandon Winterfell again… for the shores of Pyke!
Hope you enjoyed!
Grob’
Chez Grob 