Justplay ran an 8 player event of A Song of Ice and Fire on 16th October, with 4 games at 1hr 30 minutes...
We had 5 Wardens attend from our league Wardens of the Northwest
I ran my Free Folk led by Mance, only selecting one list, as familiarity is always good given short game time...
Spearwives with Mance Rayder (C)
Spearwives
Frozen Shore Chariot
Mammoth
Raiders with Jarl Raid Leader
Raiders with Raid Leader
Raiders with Raid Leader
NCU's: Craster and Ygritte
Chris Ainsworth beautifully painted Starks...
The games underway...
GAME 1 STEPHEN CONNOR (PsychoSte) - STARK - HONED & READY
Ste's list was Stormcrow Dervishes with Brynden Tully (C)
Stark Bowmen with Cranngoman Warden
House Karstark Spearmen
House Tully Cavaliers
NCU's: Catelyn, Sansa and Tycho
Set up (Left to right)
Ste: Karstarks, Tully Cavaliers. Stark Bowmen, Dervishes
Me: Raiders, Spearwives, Spearwives (c), Mammoth, Wolf chariot, Raiders (Jarls outflanking)
I took the horses to advance up the Mance Spearwives as above, while Ste took the letter on his cracking little tactics board...
My plan was to swamp the Dervishes and try and deny Bryndens 2VP's for objectives, while simply outscoring with my more numerous units...
The Karstarks moved up to objectives sit and the Tully Cavaliers shot forward using assault orders to stuck in on turn 1
I held on as passed my morale...
I wasn't happy the Tully's were in my face but I had kept the dervishes on the defensive and the bowmen were also holding back...
End of Turn 1 and a shot of the tactics board...
TURN 2
Ste finished off the Raiders on the objective, then spent a while trying to figure out how to avoid the nearby spearwives javelin shot
He managed it, but on the other flank I managed to slam in with the wolf chariot, killing 3 dervishes, ahving outflanked with Jarl with Ygritte on horses and influencing the wolf chariot for a move of 7"...
The Dervishes struck back using the coins, scoring a lot of hits... Ste had that old, familiar feeling when playing me as the titanium sled only taking three wounds due to these three sixes...
The Dervishes had retreated, and the game was swinging to and fro, although my chariot hasn't pivoted yet...
Gotta keep showing this, as it looks awesome...Its available in Uk on ebay tactics board (If link doesnt work type in A Song of Ice and Fire tactics board)
Meanwhile, the Tully Cavaliers came flying in at the Spearwives, killing five...
Again, the triple sixes were on show...
Sadly, I also lost 3 to panic. And then, claiming a zone , Assault orders allowed another attack
But the dice didn't land well for Ste, and I passed my morale. Stopping his plan to sweep down on the centre...
The Dervishes had charged in against the Wolf chariot, but it was disorderly...
And again, the dice weren't kind without the re-rolls...
Kind of obvious that my dice would not be kind to Ste either. I saved all three hits...
END OF TURN 2
I had moved Mance and his Spearwives onto the centre objective (taking 4 wounds from the spikes) and also marched up the raiders to secure the objective on my right furthest up the board...
HOUSE STARK 1 VP FREE FOLK 3 VP's
End of Turn 3 board (Mammoth had also trampled in to score 2 wounds)
The Centre before turn 3
Losing more wives to the Bowmen, I played regroup and reform to get Mance out of trouble and swapped with raid Leader
And when the lone spearwife was cut down by the Tully's, I used endless horde to bring them back to take the right objective on my side...
The Dervishes struck half-heartedly again at the chariot, scoring two wounds...
But I easily passed my panic check
Retreating away, I charged in next with the Mammoth for 6 hits and 3 wounds...
With Ste taking another three when his dice left him completely...
4 Dervishes left, and they struck back using some card shenanigans...
I couldn't complain about luck when i failed to roll a single 3+
They then retreated away centrally, and caught up in the moment, I didn't capture the moment. But essentially, having left the 4 Dervishes flank exposed to the 6 spearwives on the stakes centre objective, I had faith in the dice. I loosed javelins, taking 3 wounds doing so, and killed 2 dervishes, before charging volley order, rolling again for stake damage and getting the 1 I need to take just 2 more wounds before slamming in a killing Brynden and killing him...
The bowmen then activated and killed the lone spearwive.
Before the Wolf chariot flanked the bowmen...
Rolling 6 dice plus 3 impact hits, all hit, and then with vicious, Ste rolled a 3 on his failed panic, the unit was one-shotted. I was jubilant and telling the world... Fortunately, in doing so, it was pointed out that the Wolf chariot only gets 4 attacks. I had only rolled 4 dice earlier, but with the Mammoth having six attacks, I genuinely just made a mistake. So the bowmen were reinstated with 2 men left (after all, all the dice had hit, wounded and panic was still coming)
I consolidated on the two right side objectives, with the Karstarks still sitting it out (shouldnt have cut his head off, Robb)
Board at End of Turn 3
HOUSE STARK 4 VP's (2 from objectives, 2 from 2 dead spearwife units)
FREEFOLK 7 VP's (6 from objectives, 1 from Dervishes unit)
TURN 4
Keeping the pressure on, I took the horses...
Played Endless Horde...
And brought the other Spearwives back to take the left side objective as the Tully's cant be on both sides of the board...
After the bowmen attacked the chariot but didn't destroy it, which allowed predictable manouvers to be played on the Mammoth which marched over and blocked the Tully's from getting to Mance... I also attaacked the two Bowmen but faield to hit so they retreated in good order...
I moved the Spearwives off to further hem the Cavaliers in, and Ste charged them iwiping them out and moving up to the objective
END OF TURN FOUR (and GAME)
HOUSE STARK 6 VP's (3 objectives and 3 Spearwive units)
FREEFOLK 10 VP's (9 objectives and 1 Dervishes unit)
The board at the end of the game says a lot, as the Tully Cavaliers ranged at will destroying four units. But the Karstarks not getting involved effectively meant i could bring the horde to bear where I wanted, and though the Dervishes took a lot of effort, keeping their commander off the objectives and allowing mine to score ultimately won me the game. The Free Folk excel at objective control against 3 NCU and 4 unit forces. And of course, I was lucky. The chariot should be match wood, and I really pushed my luck with the two moves through the stakes to kill the Dervishes. Surviving with one spearwife after two Tully attacks saved Mance and his spearwives, allowing me to regroup and reform him away. That won me the game, which was a close and tactical affair which i really enjoyed. Always a hard fight against Ste
GAME 2 RAYMOND GRIEVES (Mr Ray) - BARATHEONS - A GAME OF THRONES
Raymond's another one with a rather nice Tactics board...
The Baratheons I faced were as below:
Loras Tyrell (c) in Bolton Bastard Girls
Rose Knights
Baratheon wardens
Champions of the Stag with Glory Seeker
NCU's: Eldon Estermont, Courtney Penrose and Tycho Nestoris
Another tough nut to crack, but an objective based scenario.
I only placed one Weirwood, the bog was my other.
Deploying left to right: Raiders, Spearwives, Wolf Chariot, Mance Spearwives, Mammoth, Riaders with Jarl outflank. Baratheons were, Bastard girls with Loras, Champions of Stag, Rose Knights and Wardens
Raymond pushed up bought brought his Cavalry centrally behind the Rose knights. I had my forces advance right up, with the Ygritte enhanced 7" wolf chariot going after Loras...
Board at END of TURN 1
TURN 2
The Chariot smashed into the Bastard Girls, doing several wounds. Raymond then took horses to retreat away so I turned to face the Cavalry. I took swords to use spearwives to charging volley the Rose Knights, and then went in the flank with the Mammoth. I was certainly giving Raymond a lots of choices!!!
As you can see. Both my raiders were on objectvies, as were the central spearwives.The mammoth had to be tempting for the Wardens, but Raymond didnt bite early...
The Champions of the Stag Cavalry elected to crush the wolf chariot...
And when tycho had helped heal the Rose Knights and Bastard girls, the Rose Knights hacked down 6 spearwives (as well as some dropping from healing shenanigans)
That attack allowed Diversion tactics to moved up the unactivated spearwives into the flank for a chargin volley, and then as the activated, I regrouped and reformed to allow Mance to transfer with some re-inforcements over to the objective holders...
END OF TURN 2
HOUSE BARATHEON 4 VP's (3 from objectives, 1 from Wolf chariot)
FREEFOLK 4 VP's (4 from objectives)
TURN 3
Raymond took Swords, shifted off the objective and shot at raiders on left, with minimal effect. He didnt charge in
The battle for the centre was in my favour as held the objective, but my flanks and rear were heavily exposed...
Taking the crown was to allow There's too Many.
And that brought the Rose Knights down to two...
Raymond had to take the bags to heal, allowing me to take the horses and bring on the Jarl's raiders. Raymond moved up and shot the objective holders failed the charge in. I in turn charged the Bastard girls, still holding the objective. Alas, the Jarl couldnt pivot to charge so had to move up...
The Cavalry hit the Mammoth but the beast survived.
I retreated Mance out of combat but still holding the objective. A very tactical withdrawal. The Wardens charged in, finished off the Mammoth and surged back onto the objective
Board at end of Turn 3
END OF TURN 3
HOUSE BARATHEON 6 VP's (4 objectives, 2 from wolf chariot and Mammoth)
FREEFOLK 7 VP's (7 objectives)
My first play was Regroup and reform to shift Mance back to the Raiders on the right objective...
And charge Loras in the rear
I rolled well with the Raid Leaders help...
Raymond took the horses and advanced up the Wardens to threaten Mance...
On the left, having healed up a bit by attacking, my Raiders lost 3 men but passed the panic. Twice as they were panicked...
The Cavalry flanked and finished off my spearwives, the Wardens would charge in and do enough to stop Mance claiming, as did the healed up Rose Knights v Spearwives in the centre, stopping me reaching 10 VP's, but with the two raiders scoring on my left, the game ended...
END OF TURN 4 (and game)
HOUSE BARATHEON 7 VP's (4 objectives, 3 units)
FREEFOLK 9 VP's (9 objectives)
GAME 3 ALAN AINSWORTH (Hawky2244) - BARATHEONS - A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
Alan had came last minute with his son, Chris, to balance the numbers but HE HATES playing with unpainted miniatures, so we were all grateful he put aside his natural disclination to come up.
Another tough Baratheon force consisting of:
Baratheon Wardens with Stannis, The Rightful Heir
Baratheon Wardens
King's Men with Vargo Hoat
Stag Knights
NCU's: Roose Bolton, Varys and Davos Seaworth
TURN 1
Roose took the Horses and panicked the Mammoth. It was fine...
This game was pretty tactical and intense and again didn't get as many pics as first few... pic is just before end of Turn 1, so to summarise: Extra movement on right Raiders allowed them to march and ignoring the bog and take right objective, wolf chariot did same on left. The raiders and spearwives closed in on the centre with mammoth.
The Baratheons were left to right Kingsmen, Stannis Wardens, Stag Knights and Wardens..
TURN 2
I took the horses to start and brought on the Jarls' raiders behind the black wardens. Vargo charged into the middle raiders, killing the raid leader with sadistic mutilation, but the attack allowed my left spearwives to move up with diversion tactics, then activate on swords to charge in after spear volley. They did good but sadly could have done better as they rolled a one on the way in...
I also hit the black Wardens in the rear with Jarl's unit, but they couldn't re-roll either due to the corpse pile, and lost 4 men when they only got one hit and the rest rebounded of the wardens counterstrike. And a further 3 to panic...
Silly dice rolls. However, the raiders did manage to wound the Kingsmen who failed the panic and gave the raiders the objective. The black Wardens struck down the Jarls' raiders for a point after Stannis removed their insignificant rule...Sneaky!!!
Stannis's Wardens had smacked into the flank of the spearwives flanking Vargo who had healed a bit but then had a hairy elephant trample through him for 3 wounds (although the big guy took 4 from the stakes). With Vargo's unit down to 4 models, when Chris tried to activate his Stag Knights I played Predictable manouevers, so he declined to move them... Board at end of Turn 3
END OF TURN 2
HOUSE BARATHEON 2 VP's (
FREEFOLK 3 VP's (3 objectives)
Another frenetic round saw Vargo attack but fail to kill the Raiders (due to Mance's proximity), triggering another predicatble manouever to bring the hairy beasty around to face Vargo's Kingsmen's rear. It duly charged in and wiped out the Kingsmen, who looked to try and fight "To the Last" with their order, but Mance used his counterstrategy to stop it...
Stannis finished off the Raiders and took the central objective. I then took the horses to use Endless horde to bring on the dead Spearwives, who when activated flanked Stannis killing 4 before they then failed the panic, giving them the objective. The Wardens and Stag Knights marched up to face off against Mance and the objective holding raiders as both were to far to even attempt a charge.
END OF TURN 3
HOUSE BARATHEON 3 VP's (3 units)
FREEFOLK (6 objectives, 1 unit of Kingsmen)
Mance's Spearwives had moved last activation away from the Stag Knights, towards Stannis, and activated first off the swords, shifting into their flank to launch their spear throws. The ensuiung two wounds resulted in a panic check, from the flank, with a -3 due to There's Too Many... Stannis died!!!
The Spearwives didn't panic and when the Stag Knights flanked Mance's unit, though they lost several wives, they easily passed their panic...
The Wardens managed to get a charge in through the bog despite the reduced movement Ygritte had put on them, doing enough to take the objective from the panicked Raiders...
But with Stannis dead and the other two objectives secure, the game ended at the END of TURN 4
BARATHEONS 4 VP's ( 3 Units, 1 objective)
FREEFOLK 10 VP's (2 Units, 8 objectives)
Again, the scenario played to my strengths and lack of units allowed me to pick the fights. The Wolf chariot simply ran away for 3 turns, scoring as the slow Baratheons were busy plodding across the field. The Endless horde spearwives really hurt in Turn 3, and losing Vargo and Stannis while his other units hadnt engaged really shows why I rate boots on the ground. My biggest win so far and sitting top with a game to go...
GAME 4 CHRIS AINSWORTH (cainsworth89) - STARKS - FIRE & BLOOD
Another Stark force, and straight up fight (no objectives hogging for me)
Still, 6 activations and beautifully painted army. Bring it on!!!
Chris's Stark were as below:
Eddard Stark (C) in Eddard's Honour Guard
Tully Sworn Shields with Brynden Tully
House Tully Cavaliers with Glory Seeker
Umber Greataxes with Ramsey Snow
NCU's: Tycho Nestoris and Catelyn Stark
Set up left to right
Sworn shields, Honour guard, Cavaliers, Greataxes
Raiders, Mammoth, Raiders, Mance spearwives behind. Spearwives, wolf chariot...
I marked up the Cavaliers and Great axes, as felt the two defensive infantry units would be too hard to hurt. With both raiders being selected, I felt this was gonna be really hard.
TURN 1
Chris chose sides, so I opted to go first, bringing on the Jarl with Ygritte influencing the Wolf chariot. What transpired was simply disastrous. The Greataxes turned to meet the Jarl's unit, so the wolf chariot shot forward with its enhanced speed, neeidng a3+ to hit their flank. I rolled a two, and it got smashed to bits by the marked Tully cavaliers. The Great axes then smacked the Jarls unit with assault orders...
In Fire and Blood it often pays to be aggressive... Alas, not always!!!
Still, Eddard took the opportunity to charge Mance, which only cost me 3 wives and allowed for Diversion tactics to be played, bringing up the second spearwives, who activated and launched javilens and flanked the Honour Guard. The Mammoth also hit the other flank and Tycho was popped early. Brynden flanked the Mammoth but it was immovable (though it lost 4 wounds)
Pretty busy early on, with both marked raiders still to go...
END OF TURN 1
HOUSE STARK 2 VP's
FREEFOLK 0 VP's
Board at end of Turn 1. AWESOME!!!
Chris activated the Cavaliers but they didn't do enough to finish the spearwives on the flank of Eddard.
I had Ygritte take the swords to allow the Mammoth to attack before it got killed...
It dropped two Sworn Shields...
And a further one to a failed panic...
I was rolling well and turn 2 was simply hack and thrust
Brynden and his Sworn shields had taken the Mammoth to a single wound left, before they were flanked by my raiders. Sadly, when they auto passed their panic check, the Sworn Shields stubborn tenacity killed the Mammoth. The Greataxes finished off the Jarl's raiders and Eddard finally succumbed to Mance's Spearwives...
END OF TURN 2
HOUSE STARK 5 VP's
FREEFOLK 1 VP
Using regroup and reform to save Mance again, I managed to launch javelins and charge in against the Tully Sworn Shields. I can't criticise good dice rolls, given my knack. That's pretty nice rolling!!!
The Sworn shields took a few wounds...
But my numbers couldn't out do their healing...
Endless Horde was more for show than effect as the Greataxes swung around menacingly...
END OF TURN 3
HOUSE STARK 7 VP's
FREEFOLK 1 VP
Mance hadnt died to the Tullys when charged end of last turn and he had retreated quite a way...
The Greataxes set about the new arrivals...
The Sworn shields finished off the Raiders and the Cavaliers finished off Mance...
END OF TURN 4 (and Game)
HOUSE STARK 10VP's
FREEFOLK 1 VP
That was about as one sided a battle as you can see. I mean I did kill Eddard but Chris played his smaller, elite force to perfection and simply outplayed me. his troops were better armed, better armoured, had better morale and were better led. No complaints, and the result dropped me down to third at the end of the event...
Chris with his 1st place trophy. Well deserved...
A long day saw me get best painted, on the basis that Chris had won overall and therefore they gave me it in sympathy (we only had two full painted & based armies there). Great end to a cracking wee event!!!
Next up is the evil Baratheons of Mr Ray in the league. Renly healing list v my Boltons led by Roose
EVENTS
The lads at Imps Gaming in Lincoln are running another event in November which I'll be going to... A Song of Ice and Fire Ticket - Nov 2021 (imps-gaming.com)
Board in Brum have another day event on 20th November. https://www.boardinbrum.co.uk/product/asoiaf-war-of-the-west-20-11-21/
I'll be running a two day event at Ribble Rumble in December at Element Games in Stockport, for 16 players The Ribble Rumble - ASOIF | Facebook (Only 1 place remaining)
John Craig is hosting Always Winter at Common ground Games in January 2022 (22nd/23rd) at Stirling, a two day event that I plan to go to, link here ALWAYS WINTER (I've got my ticket and there'll be 3-6 of us from The Wardens of the North-West!!!)
Gavin up at Gaming Figures in Redcar will doubtless run a few too Gaming Figures
As hopefully will Entoyment down in Poole, who organise the awesome Beachhead exhibition. Homepage - Entoyment Wargaming and Hobby Centre
Board & Swords https://www.boardsandswords.co.uk/ and Board in Brum https://www.boardinbrum.co.uk/will hopefully add another event in before end of year...
All the above venues support the game and sell A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures. Check them out, or pop in and visit if you are in the area...
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