Hello Westeros!
After studying a hellish brute like Victarion Greyjoy, I decided to go with a whole different sort of hellish brute: Tywin Lannister. The lord of Casterly Rock is in fact a monster in his own right, albeit very different, a clever one.
So yes, we’re going with Lannisters this time!
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Who is Tywin Lannister?
Tywin Lannister’s name is known throughout the Seven Kingdoms as a synonym of wealth, strength and ruthlessness. Becoming Hand of the King to Aerys Targaryen at a very young age, he restored the honor of House Lannister by destroying two vassal houses rebelling against his father’s rule of the Westerlands.
He played a pivotal but late role in Robert’s Rebellion, his troops sacking the capital King’s Landing at the last moment, only after being certain of Robert’s victory on the Trident. During the War of the Five Kings, he is the leader of the Lannister forces, aiming to strengthen his grandson(s)’s position on the throne.
The song “The Rains of Castamere” is there to remind anyone what happens when challenging the Great Lion’s authority.
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Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock
Let’s start with Tywin’s profile card: he gets the oh so emblematic “Lannister Supremacy” order, as well as a second order, “Threaten”.
Both are a thematically perfect match to the ruthless and proud lion. The first one reminds everyone that Lannisters are superior, and the latter shows the reputation of the Lord of Casterly Rock, whose presence on the battlefield will instill doubt and fear in the heart of many opponents. In game, it makes Tywin work flawlessly with his faction: he can add a strong panic test to the total, something in which Lannisters excel, and he can weaken his enemies’ attacks, helping his troops to sustain a bit longer.
Two important things to remember regarding his abilities: “Threaten” works when his unit activates, meaning that you may need to activate him early if you didn’t have the chance to put a token out the round before, and abilities do not stack, so “Lannister Supremacy” becomes useless on a unit of Lannister Guardsmen.
Now to his Tactics Cards, and he gets some nice ones!
“Exploit Weakness” is a very “Tywinesque” card. You put out “Weaken” tokens everywhere with him, and then you use them to your own attack advantage, turning an originally defensive one into 2 offensive ones, with the added bonus of rerolls if Tywin is the attacking unit. This can have multiple benefits, ensuring your attack gets some damage in thanks to “Vulnerable” token, while giving way to the Lannister specialty thanks to the “Panicked” token.
His second card, “Broken Resolve”, is a different way to capitalize on the “Weaken” tokens. It once again gives you the possibility to choose whether to attack or defend. If you want the latter, just use the token. If you want the former, keep the token on and enjoy the -2 to Morale tests the card brings, the ideal partner to a potentially deadly panic test. I would advise to put this card on a unit with a low attack profile, for which spending the token won’t really make a difference, in order to keep the card on it longer.
Finally, one of my favorite cards in the game: “Issue Commands”. This card allows you to not do anything with Tywin’s unit when activating it, while commanding another unit to attack or charge instead! This has the potential to turn the tide in your favor at a key moment of the game, when you really need the extra-push in offensive power. The second option of the card is equally good, and while you will often want to use the first option, it can give you the option to use orders like “Lannister Supremacy” a second time during the round, which could prove equally devastating for your opponent! The great value of this card is its flexibility, allowing you to bring more offense or retaliation to your game, and it works fantastically well with Tywin, happy to dish out “Weaken” tokens in his commander bunker, while his troops do the heavy lifting.
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Units
Now that we analyzed Tywin’s card, let’s see where to place the Big Bad Lion!
The first unit which Tywin loves being into is the Lannister Halberdiers. With their relatively good offensive and defensive stats, they make a satisfying commander unit. What sets them apart from their competition is their order “Set for Charge”. This order makes it really annoying for your opponent to charge you, because you will be performing an attack on them first. Combine this with the “Weaken” token that Tywin might have been able to put on before and the “Lannister Supremacy” order which you will probably use after their attack, and your opponent’s unit has a chance to lose more men than you in their own attacking turn!
The second unit in which Tywin would feel perfectly at home would be the Lannisport City Watch. This unit is very flexible, and can be tuned in an offensive or defensive way, similarly to Halberdiers. Where the combination with Tywin works well however, is with his “Issue Commands” card. While you might prefer keeping the card for a free attack or charge on another unit than Tywin’s, it is worth considering it for resetting their “Adaptive Style” order. As an example: Tywin’s unit activates, uses the “Threaten” order, then charges, using their “Adaptive Style” order to get 3 more hits. Attack concludes, it’s the opponent’s turn. “Start of any turn”, you play “Issue Commands”, and your City Watch unit gets its order back, for a 3+ defense against a “Weakened” attack, which will be subject to “Lannister Supremacy”!
The third in-faction unit which Tywin likes is the Mountain’s Men. These guys lost a lot in popularity in 2021, but with the recent update, they are back on track! This one is definitely more offensive. With Mountain’s Men being very efficient against equal to lower ranks, I would advise to keep them in long range of the main battle, focusing on cavalry and weaker units. What you want for this combo to work is to make your opponent fail their panic tests when engaged with you, to keep healing you thanks to “Prey on Fear”. You will need some support from other units however, be it NCUs or Red Cloaks, but it can be a nice alternative bunker if you want to vary your units. Plus Cleganes are always fun!
The last unit which really works well with Tywin inside is the Bolton Blackguards. With a very panic-oriented profile, they synergize perfectly with Tywin, for a double panic check at each of your opponent’s attacks! This one is more for a defensive style, but combined with “Broken Resolve” and a “Weaken” token could do wonders! Example: one unit with a “Weaken” token activates, you play “Broken Resolve”. They attack your Blackguards, take an “Horrific Visage” with an additional -2 to their roll (add an “Hear me Roar” or Joffrey’s influence for fun), lose some men, ideally 1 rank to lower their attack. You can then spend the “Weaken” token depending on their rolls, and may not even lose men, allowing you to throw a full “Lannister Supremacy” at them! Just remember that your opponent will rarely try a frontal attack on such a terrifying unit, so you might have to force them by taking the initiative and charging them straight on!
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Attachments
Attachments-wise, some work pretty well with Tywin.
Meryn Trant and the Champion of the Faith both give out tokens, the first one “Weaken” ones that could be used for Tywin’s cards, and the second one to help offensively.
The Mountain attachment could be the ideal target for the “Issue Commands” card, dealing 2 more auto-wounds thanks to a surprise attack, as well as Jaime Kingsguard. Any auto-wound is good!
Neutral-wise, I would say Vargo is probably the best fit in a Tywin list. It gives you an attachment-killer who can also put out “Weaken” tokens, synergizing perfectly with Daddy Lannister. The fact that he gives “Vicious” to his unit is the icing on the cake, since many Lannister units do not have the keyword but would love to benefit from it.
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NCUs
Tywin is a commander that allows your units to sustain more attacks thanks to his “Weaken” tokens, while using them offensively.
It seems therefore a natural fit to bring Pycelle, who will put one more “Weaken” token every round. Your opponent might be able to remove one token, but the more tokens you are able to put, the harder it will be for him to remove them all.
With that in mind, Joffrey or Baelish are two NCUs who work well with Tywin, since they can both go on the Bags zone with another purpose in mind. Occupying the Bags will cancel your opponent’s opportunity to remove tokens, while you can use the zone for full Lannister cards control with Joffrey, or any other unoccupied zone (free attack? Hmm, maybe…) with Baelish.
The remaining Lannister NCUs all work well with Tywin, as do Roose (more tokens for your opponent to remove!) or Varys (not as much stress on the other zones, so you can go on the Letters to put out more tokens in all tranquility).
The one I like the most would probably be Tyrion, mostly based on Tywin’s cards. “Issue Commands” is very strong, while “Broken Resolve” and “Exploit Weakness” both work on those tokens to give you the advantage, so you will need them, and a bigger hand helps to get them at the opportune time. An added “Counterplot” for free is nothing to cry about either, in a list where you want to neuter your opponent’s offense.
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List Example
Faction: Lannister
Commander: TywinLannister – Lord of Casterly Rock
Points: 40 / 40
Activations: 7
Combat Units
• Lannister Halberdiers (6)
Tywin Lannister – Lord of Casterly Rock(0)
• Red Cloaks (6)
Meryn Trant – Kingsguard (1)
• Pyromancers (7)
Bronn – The Sellsword (1)
• Lannister Guardsmen (5)
Assault Veteran (1)
Non Combat Units
• Pycelle (4)
• Joffrey Baratheon (5)
• The High Sparrow (4)
Built on asoiaf-stats.com/builder
This list combines a bit of everything we mentioned above.
Tywin is in Halberdiers for a flexible and threatening commander bunker. Meryn Trant dishes out some tokens, with Pycelle doing the same. The Guardsmen unit is there as an objective holder.
Pyromancers with Bronn are your “Issue Commands” unit, a strong offensive one (can be replaced with Knights of Casterly Rock or the Mountain in Mountain’s Men for example), you will want to put Joffrey on the Bags to get even more attacks out of them, while helping a bit with their defensive stats thanks to Bronn.
Healing is still a bit lacking, so the High Sparrow can help with this, by capitalizing on “Lannister Supremacy”, “Lannister Justice”, “Horrific Visage” and Vicious attacks.
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Tywin Lannister, the Great Lion
An article about Tywin wouldn’t be complete without mentioning his NCU profile. At a very high cost of 6 points, he is part of the “big ones”. But when used well, he can turn the balance of the game in your favor, in just one turn!
Once per game, you will be able to dish out 2 tokens, 1 panic test, 4 hits, and cancel a unit’s abilities until the end of the Round! Individually, these effects might not seem much. Collectively however, they can turn the hardest unit to crack into a frail paper-armored one! You can either decide to use all of them on one unit, or divide the effects on different units, which allows you for some flexibility.
One commander who could get the most profit from Tywin NCU would be Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane. With his “Overrun” cards, his 2 auto-wounds and need for destruction, a Tywin-strike is the perfect tool you need to take control of the battlefield at the ideal moment.
You may want to avoid him in case your opponent is using Roose Bolton commander or Olenna Tyrell NCU. The first one can literally cancel Tywin’s once-per-game effect with his Tactic Card “A Flayed Man Has No Secrets”, while the second one may force you to use him earlier than intended by fear of him being cancelled.
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Conclusion
Tywin is a fun commander to play, capitalizing on “Weaken” tokens to both decrease your opponent’s offense and boost your own. Thanks to this, he lets his units shine longer, which is quite satisfying as a player.
Next one will probably be… Stark or Baratheon? You decide!
Chez Grob 