The Kingslayer travels North to face the King Beyond the Wall, as Ste bins off his Starks in favour of a decent army....
To be fair, he just wanted a change and still ended up with a dirty, filthy, cheesy list.... Definitely the last report of 2024, and next year will be planning game with forces for the Invitational, as half a dozen Wardens of the North-West will be making the short trip to South Manchester for the Invitational. PsychoSte may be a contender, (being unbeaten in twenty games since early July) as could Lord Robbo and Mr Ray but think the motley trio of Greggers, Spykr and myself are really in for the early round sparring partners. Looking forward to some later rounds v Dead Meta Gaming...
I'll probably be running a Mance list at the Invitational, so thought I'd break him out again while I wait for the arrival of my Brotherhood without Banners.
Free Folk Trappers with Mance Rayder - King Beyond the Wall (C)
Varamyr Sixskins - Master Skinchanger
Shadowcat
Wolf Pack
Spearwives with Jarl - Advance Raid Leader
Spearwives with Skinchanger
Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader
Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader
NCU's
Craster & Lady Val
Ste being Ste looked to make his first Lannister build as fluffy as possible... NOT!!!
Two units with counterstrike and disrupt, while his third could attack on
2+ with critical blow, sundering and vicious
Casterly Rock Honor Guard with Jaime Lannister - The Kingslayer (C)
House Clegane Mountain's Men with Mandon Moore - Kingsguard
Bloody Mummer Skirmishers with Qyburn - Forbidden Knowledge
Lannister Crossbowmen
NCU's
Joffrey Baratheon, Pycelle & Lord Varys
Fortunately, the random game mode selected A Game of Thrones,
so my extra activations could be helpful if I could avoid a stand up fight. I'd look to
frustrate the Mummers and Honour Guard and try and pick on the Crossbows
and Mountains Men to score unit points and win by objectives.
Ste got to use his recently won Hits & Crits Mat
RANDOM TERRAIN & UNIT DEPLOYMENT
Terrain: Weirwood, Corpse Pile, Stakes, Weirwood, Hedge
LANNISTERS: Jamie's Honour Guard. Mountain's Men, Crossbows, Bloody Mummers
FREEFOLK: Raiders, Varamyr, Wolfpack,Mance's Trappers, Raiders, Spearwives, Bear.
(Spearwives with Jarl outflank, Shadowcat off board too)
Ste was in good spirits, and he had the option of not scoring this on Stats as it was his first time out with Lannisters
INTIAL CARD HAND: Nice, had no doubt Ste would take Letters if went first so Long Plan was good, and Wildling Diplomacy could help keep Joffrey off the board
ROUND 1
I deployed the Shadowcat to give Ste something to think about, with the eagle on the Crossbows in case Ste took the Horses first.
Ste had Joffrey take the Letters and influence my far left Raiders
So I played the Long Plan end of the Turn, for Endless Horde.
I had taken the Horses with Craster to deny it to Ste, moving up my right Raiders up 5"
I moved up on my left, with Ste moving up aggressively to counter me.
I still had the Crown to take with Lady Val if needed as Ste had to take Swords to deny Mance's Trappers a free shot
I was denied swapping out for a second move, as Ste played Intrigue and Subterfuge. So I Crown zapped the Crossbows.
Despite the Weirwood, Ste still failed for 3 wounds...
A Varys token was spent to force a panic on my Joffrey influenced Raiders. Ste wasn't chuffed as I passed with a double six...
Ste had made the Shadowcat Vulnerable, as she charged into the rear of the Mummers. I took a wound from Counterstrike, but Ste failed the panic and lost 3 Mummers total. My last activation was to march up my right side Spearwives ready for a shift and charging volley into the Mummers.
ROUND 2
I played Endless Horde on the Spearwives, as Craster took the Swords. I used the Spearwives and shifted into range and although only one Mummer fell to the thrown Spears, Ste failed the panic for two more...
Despite Disrupt and Counterstrike, I managed five hits on the remaining six Mummers and even passed the hit I took back...
I played There's Too Many ensuring Ste did fail the panic and lose his unit.
Wow, that definitely was unexpected...
I surged forth towards the Crossbows. And lost the Shadowcat to a Varys token, because of the Vulnerable token ( I did make 5/6 saves, but alas only had to fail one)
I played Predictable Maneuvers, should Joffrey or the Crossbows activate
So Ste took the Letters with Pycelle, weakening the Spearwives. I charged in and the weakened help, as I killed one. Joffrey activated, and I played Wildling Diplomacy to keep the pressure on. Ste took the bags and healed three crossbowmen, removing the Vulnerable,
Ste called it before rolling, as I rolled a 3 on the D3 +1 wounds to cause 4 wounds on the Mountains Men
I activated the Wolfpack, charging into the Mountains Men to engage them, preventing a charge.
Ste had Varys take the horses, retreating the Mountains Men out, angling to threaten the Spearwives. I was quite happy, never seen Ste back of so much in a game (and in doing so leaving the right side objectives unmolested)
Sure enough, the depleted Mountains Men (who took another wound from Hidden Traps on activating) charged the Spearwives.
Ste dropped them to five (although I did heal from Crasters once per game).
I looked to retreat the Spearwives, but Ste stopped Val swapping with Intrigue & Subterfuge.
So I failed to panic his unit, and Ste used his last Varys to try and reduce the Joffrey influenced Raiders (who passed their panic again)
Sadly, the Honour Guard and Jamie, combined with a failed panic dropped them to two Raiders. I activated them to retreat back an inch, but Ste played Kingslayers Infamy, and I failed the panic and died. Nicely played card...
END OF ROUND 2
I took the centre with my Trappers, while my right side Raiders took my near right objective. Ste held none
FREEFOLK 3 VP's ( 1 unit, 2 objectives)
HOUSE LANNISTER 1 VP (1 unit)
ROUND 3
Ste had Joffrey take the swords, and graciously let me deploy my Jarl's outflanking Spearwives after the fact.
The Mountains Men cut me down, killing five outright, and when I lost the last two to panic, fully healed up his unit with Prey on Fear and Fealty
The demise of the Spearwives did trigger Endless Horde and they came on near right to allow me some flexibility in units there (and avoid the Honour Guard)
I weighed up charging thee crossbows to tie up them up, but decided to hit the Mountains Men again, to tie them up (or at least get the crossbows to shoot there), and managed to drop a rank off them.
I had also shot the Mountains Men with Trappers but they were weakened and failed to score any wound. Sure enough, the crossbowmen shot down the wolves.
Having healed off the bags, the Mountains Men charged into my Trappers
I used Diversion Tactics to move up Varamyr and also played Regroup and Reform to heal up the Trappers from the newly arrived Free Folk Raiders, who had taken the right objective. I also exchanged Mance for a raid Leader. The Honour Guard marched up to within two inches of the Trappers ready for next turn, as they were just out of charge range. At start of my next turn, I played Surrounded and Exposed to give the Mountains Men panicked.
And smashed into their flank with Varamyr, after Craster had swapped zone to heal up two Trappers
END OF ROUND 3
FREE FOLK 6 VP's (1 unit, 5 objectives)
LANNISTERS 2 VP's ( 2 units)
ROUND 4
I put another Endless Horde card out, on the Trappers then had Val take the Swords and had Varamyr attack again, cutting the Mountains Men down to a single rank
Ste healed up off the bags, I attacked the Mountains Men again with the Trappers, ineffectually before Ste took the Letters. Varamyr activated, but failed to finish off the Mountains Men before the Honour Guard one shotted the Trappers, again with the help of Fealty to the Crown and Joffrey's influence, before surging forth onto the centre
I brought on the Endless Horde Raiders on my left, avoiding the rampaging Honour Guard
Ste had used his NCU's but left me the Horses so I had Varamyr retreat from the Mountains Men after the Raiders from my right had successfully flanked and engaged them
The Crossbows had cut down a good few Raiders but a second Regroup and Reform from the Spearwives healed them up again
END OF ROUND 4
FREE FOLK 9 VP's (1 unit, 8 objectives)
LANNISTERS 4 VP's ( 3 units, 1 objective)
Board at End of Round 4
ROUND 5
I played Predictable Maneuvers start of turn on Joffrey and Mountains Men, but Ste simply used Pycelle to take the swords and have the Crossbows shoot. I took the Horses to retreat Varamyr further back to avoid an Honour Guard charge. Ste took the Bags with Joffrey, so took the Crown and had Val swap it out and make sure Varamyr could not be charged.
Ste went for a six up charge, but didn't even come close
I simply activated my left Raiders and sat on the objective, as the Crossbowmen made a valiant attempt to clear the far right objective of my Spearwives
The Mountains Men finished off my Raiders and surged forth onto the centre as I activated out.
BOARD AT END OF TURN 5 (& GAME)
END OF ROUND 4
FREE FOLK 12 VP's (1 unit, 11 objectives)
LANNISTERS 6 VP's ( 4 units, 2 objectives)
Well, that was not as comfortable win as the result may suggest. Ste was down to three units by his first activation in Turn 2. He then destroyed my army bar two starting units and one of them was pretty thinned down. But for Endless Horde I would not have won. Sure I did play tactically well, sacrificing units when necessary, but the card play and interactions was pretty solid from Ste with the exception in that I felt he wasted both counterplots, one on a Diversion tactics which would only have brought a unit closer for him to kill, and the second on a Long Plan card pluck. They weren't as critical as Endless Horde or Regroup and Reform. It was a tough match up for Ste given Mance's Free Folk is my most solid performer and the random scenario landed in my favour. His list was pretty gruesome and he didn't run any Knights of Casterly Rock. He is looking out for some...
Also, while Ste has a reputation for being pretty competitive, (admittedly usually spread about by me) it is worth saying he let me off with a few things he may not have done at a top table event, and he also did put the score on stats, bringing his 20 game unbeaten run to an incredibly satisfying end. Please, don't mention the 45 point ranking drop I cost him...
I mean even after the result, my Freefolk are statistically only gonna beat Ste's Lannister's 13% of the time
UNLUCKY FOR SOME, SQUIRE!!!
UPCOMING EVENTS
2025
____________________________________
Element Games, Hallam Street, Stockport, UK
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"Blood Over Highgarden" - Become "Warden of Kent"
YECATS MINIATURES
SATURDAY JANUARY 18th 2025
RAGNAROK HOBBIES
2nd Floor, 33 High St, Gillingham ME7 1BQ
---------------------------------------
8th & 9th February 2025
50 player event
Vlad's Emporium
278 St. Vincent Street,
Glasgow,
G2 5RL,
Scotland
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WARDENS OF THE SOUTH
Southern GT
BEACHHEAD WARGAMES SHOW
24 Player, 4 Game event
------------------------------------
March 1st/2nd 2025
(Sold out, reserves being taken)
Pontnewynydd, Pontypool, UK
(I'll be there with other Wardens of the North-West)
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4 weeks later, March 29th/30th 2025
and needing no introduction...
THE
ASOIF STATS INVITATIONAL
(I'll be there with other Wardens of the North-West)
------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY 27th APRIL
SOLD OUT
(RESERVES LIST UP)
Daventry NN11 4PH, UK
(I'll be there with other Wardens of the North-West, defending my title with my trusty squire)
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MAY 11th
LEODIS GAMES, LEEDS
Links and tickets
(TICKETS NOT ON SALE AS YET)
------------------------------------------------------
Aftermath Gaming Club
Saturday MAY 24th
Lazar House, Sprowston Road, Norwich, UK
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70 Player, two day event
(37 sign ups so far...)
28th/29th June
Best Western The Thurrock Hotel, (on site accommodation)
Ship Lane, Aveley, Purfleet, UK
I'll be there to represent the Wardens of the North-West
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RIBBLE RUMBLE
NOVEMBER 29th/30th
ELEMENT GAMES, STOCKPORT
(TICKETS NOT ON SALE AS YET)
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Between Yecats Miniatures, DLS and Wardens of the South there are plenty of events going on in 2025 in the UK
Thomas & Paul will be running two events at Leeds as usual, and Dead Meta Gaming will hopefully be putting on the Northern Grand Tournament again
So, roll on 2025 and the Brotherhood without Figures (yet)
Also, got some other light reading to do for New Year
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