Baratheon Heroes 3 is out! For the One True King!
Stannis MOUNTED commander! Massey! Patchface! Cressen! This box is so exciting for the Dragonstone loyalty!
(Photos from Samuel Stohl and cropped by Craig Tannock)
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Commanders
Let’s start with the main man himself, King Stannis, riding to the Wall’s rescue!
Finally a cavalry commander for the stags, and he comes in fast…
With the “Insight” order, he makes a cavalry unit that much more terrifying. I really like that they gave him this order, as it goes directly into conflict with the Flayed Men already having “Vicious”. You can still bring Flayed Men in your list, but Stannis won’t join their unit, which is good enough for me!
“Stubborn Tenacity” works well with the Champions of the Stag, who with their morale of 5+ should be able to pass a few test, making them a natural fit for him to be put into.
Tactic cards-wise, he is entirely focusing on cavalry units. The first one, “Muster”, allows a unit to operate a Maneuver after retreating. Moreover, the unit is disengages from cannot pivot, and if it targets Stannis’ unit, it can heal between 1 to 4 wounds! All in all a pretty good card, giving some much needed mobility to his loyalty, along with some bonus healing for him.
It becomes an even better card if combined with his next card, “On the Double!”. When a cavalry unit makes a maneuver while activating, you can add 3” to its distance, at the cost of giving it a Vulnerable token. This is another great value for the slow Baratheons, but can also work fantastically with some Zorse Riders and their movement of 6 for example, allowing them to reach the Rear of the opponent’s unit quite easily.
Finally, “Ride them down!” essentially gives you a free charge, at the end of your opponent’s activation, setting you up for a strong attack. With the Panic token it puts on the defender, having a unit with Vicious would be perfect to make the most out of this token on the next attack… I wonder who brings Vicious to his cavalry unit?
So all in all, a fantastic new addition to the House Baratheon of Dragonstone, and one I’m very excited to try out!
Now to the second commander in the box, the smiling Justin Massey!
A pretty nice supporting commander, his abilities help with positioning, which is quite needed in this faction, and morale. “Tactical Reposition” allows you to shift a unit in short range, while “Inspiring Presence” gives his unit a morale of 5+. I could see him working well with Sentinels, helping them to get some extra movement for successful charges, or in Neutral units, which fits the character pretty well, Stannis sending him away to recruit more sellswords. I’m hoping he will fit well with the upcoming Lysene pirates…
Cards-wise, lots of healing. “Regroup and Reform” is a great card as many Free Folks players know, helping you to focus your troops on the side of the battlefield which needs it the most. This is especially nice with some Wardens units doing nothing apart from holding an objective, which could get depleted to increase offensive elsewhere, or with “True Conviction” attachments which benefit from rerolls if fighting units with more ranks. Some fun juggling times to come!
“Sudden Retreat” is always a nice card, and I think Sentinels and Champions would benefit the most from it. Not much else to say there, but once again it is a very lore-accurate ability for Justin Massey, being responsible for helping with the King’s retreat at the Blackwater.
“Precious Supplies” is another healing card, which changes a bit from usual ones. First, it removes tokens from a unit, after an enemy attack. Having this card in your deck will force your opponent to use the tokens early, instead of stacking them to use for later effects, which brings an added layer of control to this commander. Then, it can heal between 1 and 4 wounds after an enemy attack, helping with the sustained side of the faction.
Overall I really like him, the only downside is the triggering conditions of 2 out of 3 cards. “After an enemy completes a Melee Attack” is already on 2 Baratheon cards, “Final Strike” and “Baratheon Justice”, making it harder for the player to use. Still, it’s an easy enough trigger to get, so it could be worse.
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Attachments
The first one is Bryen Farring, the King’s squire. Bit disappointed on that one, I would have expected something similar to Satin for Night’s Watch, but his profile isn’t bad per say. He brings the “True Conviction” ability which is prevalent in many Baratheon attachments and allows a unit to reroll when attacking enemies with more ranks than them, as well as “Protection of the Crown”, allowing his unit to reroll defense dice when controlling the Crown.
For 1pt, he could be a good alternative to the usual Davos in Lightbringers combo if you don’t want to lose them, and could also work well in a Kingsmen or Queensmen unit to boost them a bit.
The second one is the attachment version of Justin Massey. He seems like the perfect attachment to bring in a Stannis the Rightful Heir list: he helps to cycle your deck to find the great commander cards such as “Harsh Conditions” or “Tactical Approach”, and he dishes out even more tokens thanks to his “Threaten” order to help with triggering those cards. He is 2pts so on the expensive side of attachments, but could be worth it in a cheap unit such as Stormcrow Mercenaries…
The last one, Dale Seaworth, is his father’s vassal. This means that you will mostly want to use him in a Davos commander list, although his “Counterstrike” ability could work very well with any other commander. Being Davos vassal could be quite nice, giving the “Parlay” and “Flea Bottom Tricks” cards a bit more leeway, while adding an attachment for the “Everything” card.
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NCUs
Finally, we get 2 new NCUs in this box, and not the worst ones ever!
Patchface is 4pts, and is very situational. He gets 3 order tokens, and is (mostly) based on luck, followed by an intense focus on your opponent’s actions and a very clear knowledge of your opponent’s tactic cards. At the start of any round, you can spend 1 of his tokens to give a tactic card’s name to make your opponent discard it from their hand.
In other words, you need to say “Endless Horde” or “What is Dead May Never Die” at the beginning of every round and pray that they have them in their hand. Hard to pull off, but it’s a complete “high-risk high-reward” character, which I find fun and can be hilarious in casual games. You probably won’t want to bring him in tournaments though.
But speaking of tournaments… Maester Cressen just became my go-to NCU for the Stannis loyalty!
For 5pts, he has 2 abilities: his recurring one allows you to basically give the Letters zone ability to the Crown zone. This is huge, as the Crown zone is usually the worst one, depending on the army in front of you, and the Letters is one of the most useful ones, especially early game. But where he really shines is with the “Sacrifice for the King” ability: once per game, you can activate him at the beginning of the round. At the end of this round, he dies. This is absolutely bonkers, allowing you to grab the initiative on a round when you are the second player! Sure, he will die from it, but at the end of the round, which means that you can easily sacrifice him on round 4 or 5 if needed, clench your teeth for a brief instant and enjoy your victory with a dry laugh!
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A very complete box, one which brings some varied tools to an overall one-note sub-faction.
This should also be a relief for other factions, as it could put a stop to the Mel-Jaqen duo, in favor of more interesting and fun lists!
So a 8/10 for me!
(-1 point for Justin Massey’s double triggers, and -1 point for Bryen Farring instead of his uncle Godry or Richard Horpe, much more charismatic and impactful, but I guess they’ll come in Heroes 5…)
Grob’
Chez Grob 