Hello Westeros!
First tournament in post-lockdown Shanghai, with 8 players joining, in SoGoFun shop!
The scene was once again dominated by Baratheons presence, but this time, the other armies of Westeros were ready for them…
We had 3 Baratheons, 2 Lannisters, 1 Greyjoy, 1 Stark and 1 Night’s Watch, so a quite heteroclite panel of factions, which is always pleasant in tournament.
—
My lists
I went with Lannisters, as I just got the new Heroes 3 box, and really enjoyed playing them in the recent weeks. Kevan and Addam are really strong options in the red & gold army, so wanted to try them… BOTH (spoiler alert, I did not, and it was my downfall). I also really wanted the Pyromancers, with the strong superiority of Renly at the last tournament, I needed to be prepared! (In the end, I was the only player who didn’t fight against a Baratheon player, so that precaution didn’t turn out as useful as expected.)
The game modes were Dark Wings Dark Words, A Clash of Kings and A Game of Thrones.
My first list which I wanted for game mode 1 and 2 was:
Addam in Warrior Sons, Knights of Casterly Rock, Pyromancers, Lannister Guardsmen, NCUs Pycelle, Tyrion and Littlefinger.
My second list, planned for the last game mode, was:
Kevan in Crossbowmen, Pyromancers, Mandon Moore in Stormcrow Mercenaries, Lannister Guardsmen, the Mountain that Rides, NCUs Pycelle, Tyrion and Littlefinger.
First game: Lannister vs Lannister
Dark Wings Dark Words
I got lucky in getting this match-up, as my opponent, Davy, was a complete beginner.
As such, his list was not optimal, with only 1 NCU, Joffrey, which led me control of the board the entire game, and some questionable attachment/placement choices (I did advise him to change the list before the game, I’m not that Tywinesque haha!).
I think he really wanted to try as many attachments as possible, making it a more fun list to have on the board, but as we all learned sooner or later, this is sadly not always what is best…
His list was: Tywin in Pyromancers, Mountain in Mountain’s Men, Jaime in Guardsmen, Tyrion in Guardsmen, Assault Veteran in Halberdiers, NCU Joffrey.
From round 1, my superiority on the tactics board was already very apparent: Bribery, Letters and a Crown bomb which made 3 Mountain’s Men leave.
My goal was to focus on the left part of the battlefield, leaving Tywin and his Pyros and the Halberdiers alone on the right part, with my Knights of Casterly Rock oscillating between both sides, between the right objective and the central melee to come.
I went with a very “turtle” mindset to this tournament, and in this game, it basically meant keeping all my units out of range on round 1, progressing very slowly. The only unit in range of the Mountain’s Uncontrolled Rage where the Guardsmen, which I sort of wanted him to charge, leaving the center very vulnerable.
Unfortunately for him, and after failing another Crown Bomb, he passed his morale test, meaning he couldn’t charge automatically. Bad luck! He still tried to charge, but ended up too far, and instead of being vulnerable to attacks but having made a few wounds to Guardsmen, he was simply vulnerable. In front of my Pyromancers.
Well, let’s just say these guys knew the Mountain’s reputation, and went all in. Charge, rerolls, 7 wounds, dead unit.
After that, they moved towards Tyrion and his guardsmen, who were stuck behind a barricade. In the center, Addam and his Warrior’s Sons went charging Jaime and his guardsmen, who managed to resist for a turn, but presented a very juicy target for the Knights of Casterly Rock. The knights charged in the flank and 10 hits on 5+ was too much for the unfortunate Guardsmen already weakened.
The game was going pretty well, but I unfortunately managed to do… a failed charge! Addam and his men missed the second Guardsmen flank an inch away, and it was sufficient to give some rest to the guardsmen, who had charged the Pyromancers and had taken their counterattack quite hardly.
Seeing the flashy rainbow cloaks of the Warrior’s Sons clearly gave the Halberdiers the wrong idea, and they charged them in the rear! Well, my Tyrion had bribed them on round 1, so it ended up less effective than expected, with only one Warrior dead.
Unfortunately for them, Tywin and his Pyromancers were not far, and shot their flank! This time, Hardened and Faith were out, and they lost 6 men…
With the Halberdiers presenting their rear, the Knights of Casterly Rock saw a very juicy target, and charged once again. Lots of wounds, but, they didn’t die!
The ending of the game ended up pretty bad for me, with both his Guardsmen and Halberdiers refusing to die! Worse, the Halberdiers and Pyromancers ended up killing my Knights of Casterly Rock, who retreated to the objective when they saw their situation was helpless, but ended up charged by Tywin. They counterattacked, for Tywin was in a bad posture and contesting the objective, but ended up dying thanks to Tywin’s very own “Lannister Supremacy”!
I guess he really is the Great Lion.
Still, I had the overall dominion on the table in terms of objectives and units killed, so a victory for Addam Marbrand!
I think it was an overall pretty good introductory game, Davy learned that 1 NCU is very tough, the control board doesn’t seem that important as a beginner, but once you get on the wrong side of it you learn to respect it (happened to me as well in my starting games)…
It also taught him the value of objectives to get victory points, which are one of the main features of the game, and we went through many of the orders to learn them and how to use them, which I hope was useful for him.
End result: 9-2 for Lannisters!
Other tables results for game 1:
Greyjoy-Renly = 6-1
Night’s Watch-Stark = 8-1
Renly-Stannis = 2-0
Second game: Lannister vs Night’s Watch
A Clash of Kings
Second game, the one I feared the most: LittleP and his Night’s Watch. He had already beaten me with a very similar list a few weeks ago, and Night’s Watch is still pretty much the toughest faction to face, in my opinion. One mistake and you’re out. So I went in this game with the strongest “turtle mode” mindset I ever had…
His list was: Cotter Pyke in Ranger Hunters, Watch Captain in Sworn Brothers, Watch Captain in Sworn Brothers, Coldhands, NCUs Aemon, Sam and Gilly.
The game started very similarly to the previous one.
We both went for one of the objectives on the sides of the battlefield, my Guardsmen taking the right one and his Sworn Brothers taking the left one, while everyone else was “thegoodthebadandtheuglying” each other in the center.
He led the first offensive with Cotter Pyke and his rangers in my Warrior’s Sons, but the result was so lacking that he quickly ran back to safety, away from my Knights countercharge. Due to this, and thinking he was as scared of me as I was of him, and confident in the Faith of the Seven, I sent Addam and his Warriors Sons occupy the central objective. This was actually a good choice, as they managed to hold it until the end of the game.
On the right, his other unit of Sworn Brothers went after my Lannister Guardsmen. They resisted pretty well to the first attack, but sadly for the next 3 panic tests, including “Lannister Supremacy” induced ones, I kept not using “Hear me Roar”, and he kept getting just the needed dice result!
The Guardsmen retaliated and did some wounds, but then, the Pyromancers charged in the poor Sworn Brothers flank… All dead, except the Watch Captain. Time for panic test: Vicious, Flank, Hear me Roar at -3… He needs an 11, hard to do right?
Of course, just before he rolls, I do say the jinxing sentence “If you do 11 I flip the table over”. You guessed it: 11.
(I didn’t flip the table though, I remembered my minis were on it too 😛 )
So on this very insolent and bastard-of-the-Wall luck, the game went on, and my Guardsmen were now in trouble. I made them retreat back with Petyr on the Crown (you don’t want a Crown bomb on 2 Guardsmen), which left them safe for the rest of the game…
Back in the center, Addam charged Cotter’s unit, who was staying sufficiently close to the objective to ensure the Warrior’s Sons didn’t lose it. The attack was quite brutal, dealing 7 wounds! The rangers attacked and retreated, making a grand total of 4 wounds. Yes, Addam in Warrior’s Sons is a pretty good combo…
The last round is a bit blurry in my memory unfortunately. I managed to kill the Night’s Watch Captain after he healed a little bit, cancelling Aemon thanks to a nice “Intrigue and Subterfuge”.
And then I’m not really sure, but apparently Cotter went after my Pyromancers and managed to kill them (I honestly have 0 memory of that, Mad King flashbacks haha), while Coldhands took the objective on the right, my Guardsmen charging him and dealing him 2 wounds in an effort to contest the objective as the last action of the game (this I remember, my soldiers’ heroics will always be in my mind, their death… eh, not so much!).
A really tensed game through and through, my Knights didn’t do a single attack, which some may consider a shame, but they managed to scare him during the whole game, and make Cotter and his men retreat instead of keeping pressuring me, which was basically why I wanted them there.
Tyrion NCU was instrumental in the anti-NW game, getting more cards than the crows, and managing to place his Counterplot at an opportune moment.
So overall, a really fun game, and a great opponent!
End result: 5-4 for Lannisters!
Other tables results for game 2:
Greyjoy-Renly = 5-2
Stannis-Stark = 5-3
Stannis-Lannister = 3-1
—
Third game: Lannister vs Greyjoy
A Game of Thrones
The day was going well, but apparently, the Drowned God had to remind everyone he was a bit more brutal than the Seven…
His list was: Baelor in Silenced Men, Asha and Qarl in Ironmakers, Ironborn Bowmen, Reapers, NCUs Erik, Wendamyr and Beron.
So there I made my biggest mistake of the day: keep the Addam’s list instead of bringing Kevan’s one. The plan with Kevan’s list was to get more activations than my opponent, sitting on an objective and shooting from there, while other units drowned one flank.
But for some reason, I had really enjoyed playing Addam’s list, and I felt like bringing cavalry would be a sufficient advantage.
It probably would have been, BUT I made the second mistake of playing exactly like the 2 games before, in “turtle mode”! It worked with 3 objectives and other ways to get VPs, but it definitely didn’t work for “A Game of Thrones” and 5 objectives…
Last mistake I made, which I already made before and will probably keep making: being scared of Qarl. He placed him in the center, which made me exchange Addam and the Pyromancers previous spots during deployment, which turned out to be an overall bad plan. I am in the camp of the “Expert Duelist sucks” followers, mostly because I love attachments and characters, and such an extreme rule makes them obsolete, but also because it keeps messing up my plans from the deployment on.
(That said, of course Qarl is a fantastic option for Greyjoy players, and I use him too when leading the Ironborns, but I would much prefer it to be an auto-wound or a cancelling attachment abilities for one round instead of removing them on a 60% chance. I disgress.)
The beginning of the game went relatively well for me, with his Ironborn bowmen shooting at my Guardsmen, who thanks to a Lannister Supremacy and a Fealty to the Crown not only stayed at full numbers, but dealt 4 wounds to the Bowmen!
In the next round, I was really relieved to see Baelor move towards the right objective, putting him away from the combats. Unfortunately for me, I did not take advantage of that, focused that I was on Qarl…
The Bowmen kept on shooting, changing target this time and trying Addam instead of risking another Supremacy. Seeing that the Lannisters were not moving forward, the Ironmakers took possession of the central objective, which was basically my plan as my Pyromancers charged them shortly after, dealing 7 wounds. He managed to throw a “Lash Out” at me, making 2 wounds on my fanatics.
I am not entirely sure of what the order of events was, but basically, a free attack got taken by Beron, and to my dismay, it wasn’t from the Ironmakers, but from the Bowmen. I had 2 “Lash Out” in my hand which I couldn’t use, since the Ironmakers were not attacking me! Worse, the Bowmen attack was pretty successful and drove my men to 5 wounds, making them way too vulnerable against an Ironmaker attack led by Qarl… If I let them in combat, they wouldn’t be able to resist and would die without having the opportunity to use “Lash Out”. If I retreated, my momentum would be wasted.
Now the overall rest of the game is a bit messy in my head so here are the highlights (I really should take notes and more pictures, but very easy to forget to do that in tournaments):
- Addam retaliated against the Bowmen with a charge, driving them to 3 wounds left.
- The Greyjoy healing machine started, which I forgot was so intense, I definitely prefer being on the other side of the table to witness it…
- My Pyromancers retreated, which led his Ironmakers to score points uncontested
- I kept hesitating with my Knights for some reason, as a charge on the Ironmakers (who were now back to nearly full strength) would not have the same devastating result as previously experienced on lower defense units. In retrospect, probably one of my worst decisions this game… Instead they went to occupy the last free objective, leaving the Ironmakers free.
- Addam and his Warriors did manage to kill the Bowmen thanks to a Counterplot on “What is Dead May Never Die”, but it was too late to turn the tide, as the timer was ended, round 4.
So not a great game for me, lots of mistakes in succession, and an overall turtle strategy which did not fit this scenario and this opponent at all. Masha played really well on the other hand, which did not help me at all! The worst choice he could have made for me was to do an attack with his Bowmen instead of his Ironmakers, and although he chose it for the rerolls I think, it destroyed my whole “Lash Out” strategy for killing his Ironmakers.
Tyrion was once again great in bringing cards and a free Counterplot , he definitely is a must have for Lannister players in tournament I think. The Knights were very badly handled by myself this game sadly, wasting 8pts on 2 VPs is pretty sad…
So not a very satisfying ending to a good day, but a definitely deserved win for the squids!
End result: 9-6 for Greyjoys!
Other tables results for game 3:
Renly-Stannis = 10-6
Night’s Watch-Renly = 3-1
Stark-Lannister = 5-4
Final Results
And so at the end of this quite intensive day, the results were as follows:
- Greyjoy 3 victories, 20VP
- Lannister 2 victories, 20VP
- Night’s Watch 2 victories, 15VP
- Baratheon 2 victories, 14VP
- Baratheon 1 victory, 11VP
- Stark 1 victory, 9VP
- Lannister 1 victory, 7VP
- Renly 0 victory, 5VP
They did not sow, and the Greyjoys won!
Congratulations to Masha for the win, entirely deserved!
He won the Martell starter still in preorder, I won the Baratheon Heroes 3 coming soon, Little P went home with some golden mercenaries, Qiaoban won the upcoming Martell Heroes 1, and everyone else left with a KS hero exclusive, from Robb Stark to the Hound!
And thanks to Bruce at SGF for the organization, we were all very happy to be able to play collectively after such a long hiatus!
And yes, even the Drowned God celebrated, trying to drown us on the way back…
Next one, once again too many choices… Karstarks? Mormonts? Victarion again? Free folks or Night’s Watch which I’ve never tried?… or the One True King coming back with a vengeance?
Grob’
Chez Grob 