Hello Westeros!
Second post-lockdown tournament, and a new wave of pillaging across the land!
After bringing the Lannisters last time, I decided to go back to my favorite faction in terms of play style, the Greyjoys!
But then, what to bring what to bring? Baelor seemed like the obvious choice, since he whipped my sorry red & gold backend last tournament, and he is a tough nut to crack. Balon was a pretty good choice as well, having won with him a past tournament, and Feast for Crows being one of the game modes we would play.
Problem is, I had played a Victarion allied to the Golden Company list during the month, and well… I sort of fell in love with that combo. Plus, I checked on Stats and the poor guy is still pretty badly ranked, which made me even more determined to remind everyone who is the Kraken boss… So all aboard, it’s the Iron Captain’s time again!
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My lists
Both lists were strikingly similar: Silenced Men instead of Ironmakers in the second list, and that’s it. The idea was to alternate between both depending on the panic orientation of the opponent (we had lots of Stannis and/or Bolton players this time). Strangely enough, I only used the Ironmakers list, as I didn’t get paired with any heavy panic hitters (Lannisters excepted, but panic wasn’t really their focus in his list).
My list was as follow:
Victarion Commander in Golden Company Swordsmen, Golden Company Elephant, Qarl the Maid in Ironmakers, Asha in Bowmen, NCUs: Wendamyr, Rodrik Harlaw and Littlefinger
So quite a simple list, I hesitated between Ironmakers and smaller units for more activations, but ended up choosing them to rely less on Pillage.
The goal of the list is simple: shift shift charge attack attack charge shift shift charge attack… you got the idea. Victarion is my favorite commander for this simple reason, the number of attacks you can dish out with him usually gets units killed quite fast, and the Golden Company brings resilience and reliability to an otherwise flimsy faction. All my infantry units had a 5+ morale against panic tests, and the Elephant is relatively resistant to panic with the 2 wounds max.
This trio of NCUs is my favorite one for Victarion: Petyr gives flexibility (and can pick the Letters for the Golden Company), Rodrik is the card manager, and Wendamyr is the shift master allowing you to charge whenever you need.
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First game: Greyjoys
Feast for Crows
Crap! I was expecting to fight Masha and his pirates at some point, since we always end up fighting each other in tournaments, but not that early! This is not a good match-up for a first game!
He brought the exact same list as the previous tournament:
Baelor in Silenced Men, Asha and Qarl in Ironmakers, Warsworn in Reapers, Bowmen, NCUs: Wendamyr, Erik and Beron.
I wasn’t too confident with my list for this one, Masha being an experienced Greyjoy player and knowing which shenanigans I had in store for him. Plus, Baelor is objectively a more resilient commander than Vic, so he could definitely stop me in my offensive tracks.
Well in the end, the game went a bit weirdly: both of us nearly killed each other, but never did. We basically played a melee in Game of Thrones universe.
Start of the game, bad news: I have 2 “What is Dead May Never Die” in my hand. As a Greyjoy, you want that card to pop up at some point. Having 2 in your hand on round 1 is not great though: you don’t want to throw them out because you’ll need them for sure, but keeping them means having many less options in your hand. I opted for keeping them, starting on the Letters and using a Rodrik order straight away: still no Victarion cards. Crap. My charging strategy would have to wait.
Round 2 was a bummer for both of us in a lot of ways: 1 Crown bomb passed, 2 Crown bomb passed, 1 wound by Bowmen, 1 failed charge. That failed charge was from his Ironmakers on my Bowmen, and while it annoyed him, it annoyed me most of all. I was hoping for my Bowmen to glue the Ironmakers while my Elephant would charge their flank.
Unfortunately, they stayed in the middle of the battlefield and my Elephant had to charge their front, meaning I wouldn’t be able to separate them from the rest of his army.
The Golden Company charged in next to the grey beast, but while dealing an impressive amount of damage, both attacks were not sufficient to destroy the Ironmakers.
In order to relieve the Ironmakers a bit, his Reapers charged my Golden Company, only making 3 wounds. I then sent my own Ironmakers into the Reapers, this time taking half the unit off.
And then we basically got stuck.
Baelor and his Silenced Men were on an objective, his Bowmen stuck behind him, while Asha and my Bowmen were on the other one.
In the middle, I had the superiority in numbers. Unfortunately, even with Rodrik’s help, the free attacks cards were not raining as much as I wanted, and worst, BERON was there. That guy single-handedly saved the Ironmakers, my Elephant managing 1 to 2 wounds per attack maximum due to his influence.
Worst, his Reapers on last rank benefited from some magical Greyjoy healing, aided by the Warsworn (which I did not duel, preferring a direct wound on such a flimsy unit). The game ended with the Reapers being back at full ranks, my Victarion dead-may-never-dead left on his own on his tray, his Ironmakers nearly dead and the Elephant at 1 wound left. I still had 1 “WIDMND” in my hand, and had the first player so wasn’t too worried, but time was up! A huge potential for a brutal game, but weirdly both sides stayed too resilient and no one died!
So it ended on a draw, with simply objectives scoring!
End result: 3-3
Other Tables:
Ramsay Snow vs Oberyn Martell = Draw
Jon Snow vs Axell Florent = NW victory
Addam Marbrand vs Baratheon Roose Bolton (Stannis) = Lannister victory
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Second game: Martells
Winds of Winter
Second game: it’s Martell time!
Two of the first games ended on a draw, meaning I would be fighting either Boltons or Martells. The Bolton player, LittleP, being one of my regular opponents, I was hoping to face Bruce (the shop owner) and his Martells, as I had never played against them and was curious, and I got my wish!
His list was:
Oberyn Commander in Royal Guard, Spearmen, Spearmen, Sand Skirmishers, Sand Skirmishers, NCUs: Ellaria Sand and Tyene Sand.
LittleP was lamenting about their offensive power after playing against them the first round, but I found that when talking of offensive power, no one comes close to Victarion Greyjoy. He had 5 units on the field and only 2 NCUs, which meant I had the advantage on the board, and after deployment, a potential advantage on the field, my units being concentrated on one side only and objectives not having as much importance in this game mode.
My goal was to avoid getting arrowed by too many Sand Skirmishers attacks, so I focused on one side to try and Overrun the rest. And boy did that work out well!
I made a small blunder at the beginning with my positioning after Marching, with the Elephant being prevented from shifting, so that meant Victarion would have to go first. In the end, it turned out well, and Victarion in the Golden Company charged the Spearmen who used a Weakened “Set for Charge”, only dealing 2 wounds.
The Golden Company answer was a bit more brutal, killing 7 men. Unfortunately for him, my Elephant was still in position to charge, and a “Rush of Aggression” later, trampled the unit.
In the middle of the battlefield, I sent forward my Ironmakers. I had “What is Dead May Never Die” in my hand, so was not overly worried about them, and I wanted to get the central objective to complete a mission I had selected on the next round. Luckily for me, both his Skirmishers turned their attention to the big armored guys instead of my Golden Company, which left them in bad shape, but still bunker.
His flank was now vulnerable, and the Greyjoys pressed their advantage. The Sand Skirmishers on the left side were in great danger, and Victarion and his elephant rushed in to charge their flank. They did not last long, and Victarion roared an Overrun into Oberyn’s flank. The Prince of Dorne retaliated with his Manticore Venom, but it was too late, and after a staggering number of attacks, fell to the ground.
Oh, did I mention one round had passed? OVERRUN again! Victarion and his Golden mercenaries charged the second Sand Skirmishers flank and made a huge hole in them. I don’t remember how they died, but I think the Spearmen arrived too late to save them.
They did however avenge them, and at that point I made a mistake, using “What is Dead May Never Die” on the Golden Company, in spite of the Manticore Venom (to be fair, it has just been FAQed apparently and I had to brag about that card bypassing the poison for Eric to put me down with the FAQ text two days later hahaha). Luckily, it wouldn’t have changed anything regarding scoring differences and overall results, apart from 1 more point for Bruce for that game.
So the last action was basically the Elephant charging the Spearmen on their flank, which would probably not have been possible had they kill Victarion and surged forth, but no other action of note took place.
Playing Martell favored me I think, because they certainly require some practice to play well, which Bruce unfortunately did not have yet. I do think they have some great combos, but the fact that most of their abilities are orders make for a bit of a clunky gaming experience if not used to it.
Oberyn was definitely the highlight: his commander cards are awesome, and the Manticore Venom really could have hurt my men (it did, but would have been more powerful if played offensively straight away). I would probably play him as a kamikaze: march and charge the unit you want dead, attack once and see what happens. Ideal bunker-killer as well, a unit like Rose Knights or Lannister Guardsmen won’t be able to hold an objective for long once poisoned, so he definitely has lots of uses!
Tyene was as expected not that good: she’s probably great in casual games, but in tournament when time is limited and you barely get to round 4, her ability takes too long to work. I avoided her on round 2 by not sending an NCU on the board, and I didn’t care about my Petyr being poisoned on round 3, knowing we wouldn’t go beyond round 4. I think she would definitely be better in a 3 NCU list, when it is harder for your opponent to avoid zones, at the risk of losing an activation. So, she has potential, but I wouldn’t bring her in tournament.
All in all, a fun try out against the newest faction, and two Overruns made my day!
End result: 10-4 for Greyjoys!
Other Tables:
Donal Noye vs Addam Marbrand = Draw
Baelor Blacktyde vs Roose Bolton = Greyjoy victory
Loras Tyrell vs Andrew Estermont = Tyrell victory
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Third game: Lannisters
Fire & Blood
His list:
Addam Commander in Warrior’s Sons, Jaime the Young Lion in Guardsmen, Pyromancers, Guardsmen, NCUs: Tyrion, Qyburn and Pycelle.
A bit similar list to the one I brought last tournament, with Addam in WS and Pyromancers as the heavy hitters. The game mode worked in my favor I felt like, as Victarion is pretty hardcore on the unit killing, but I’d have to be careful with his Pyromancers mainly.
Deployment went smoothly as I managed to isolate his guardsmen unit on the right, with all my forces on the left side. With their speed, it would take a while for them to reach the fighting.
We then marked units, and I selected both Guardsmen units, while he selected my Ironmakers and my Golden Company. I would have picked my Bowmen, but I think he decided to go for the big kill instead.
Round 1 went well, as units advanced slowly, until the Pyromancers moved forward a bit too much. They were too juicy of a target to ignore them, so I went all in with Wendamyr shift and Victarion’s unit, killing a bunch of them. My Elephant guarded the side, with the Bowmen preparing their Warcry for the next round. The Ironmakers and the Warrior’s Sons marched slowly but surely in front of each other, preparing for the fight.
Round 2 started, but unfortunately for Davy, his Pyromancers did not manage to kill the Golden Company. On the other hand, it took me a total of 3 more attacks to destroy them! Most resilient Pyros I have ever seen!
In the meantime, Jaime and his guardsmen charged the Elephant. This was actually a trap I laid: the Guardsmen’s offense didn’t really scare me, but them charging the Elephant would leave their flank open for a Victarion “Overrun”! Of course, it took me the whole round to finalize it, since the Pyros refused to die until my last attack option. They finally bit the dust, and Victarion charged Jaime’s flank with a roar!
Between the Elephant, Victarion and my Bowmen, Jaime was doomed. Even worse, on the right, Addam had charged in the Ironmakers… and Qarl. The Warrior’s Sons did not make much damage, but Qarl’s retaliation was brutal, his sword finding Addam’s neck straight away. No more commander for the Lannisters!
With their leader dead, the Warrior’s Sons were in bad posture. They still fought to the bitter end, managing to make a serious amount of wounds in the Ironmakers, while the second Guardsmen unit was closing in on Victarion’s back. Not fast enough to save Jaime though, who died from a heavy axe to the head. Surging forth, the Golden Company turned around to face the incoming threat, while the Elephant pivoted: perfectly aligned with the Warrior’s Sons flank.
The charge of both Elephant and the last attack of the Ironmakers proved too much for the unfortunate zealots, and with their death, the game ended, as I managed to get 10 points total!
Fire & Blood had favored the Kraken, but the result was not as representative of the game as it should have been: I thought Davy made a lot of progress compared to the last tournament, and it was very nice to see! Unfortunately, without other ways to score points and having lost his most killing unit early, it made for a tough ascension for him.
End result: 10-0 for Victarion!
Other Tables:
Oberyn Martell vs Andrew Estermont = Draw
Baelor Blacktyde vs Jon Snow = Greyjoy victory
Roose Bolton vs Loras Tyrell = Bolton victory
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Conclusions
So in the end, the results were as follow:
1st place: Victarion Greyjoy
2nd place: Baelor Blacktyde
3rd place: Night’s Watch (Donal and Jon)
4th place: Neutrals (Roose & Ramsay)
5th place: Addam Marbrand
6th place: Baratheon (Loras & Roose)
7th place: Oberyn Martell
8th place: Baratheon (Axell & Andrew)
Victory for Victarion!
And a Martell starter for me! (weirdly enough, the Martells can’t be sold here before 3 weeks, so still have to wait for them)
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A great day for the Kraken, although a bit favored in the match-ups (I don’t think I would have done as well against Night’s Watch Stone Thrower haha), really happy with Victarion working out well, offensive commanders need some love!
He probably was the MVP for me that day, managing to do 3 Overrun in total, and bringing a staggering number of attacks. The Golden Company is definitely one of his favorite units, always doing 7 attacks when having the Letters is quite brilliant in Greyjoys, who can simply replace the zone by a Free Attack.
I was surprised to see Dumbo live until the end, I was expecting more attacks coming his way, although the Greyjoys came pretty close, leaving him at 1 wound. Asha and her Bowmen were overall useless offensively, but they did allow me to draw on the first game, and provide some support and points in the following ones. Finally, Qarl the Maid and the Ironmakers were a very reliable option, and the expert dueling of Addam was the icing on the cake, so all in all, a pretty good day!
Looking forward to the next one and as usual, thanks to SoGoFun for organizing it!
No Greyjoys nor Lannisters next time, out of comfort zone!
Grob’
Chez Grob 