So I was running The Great Walrus for the first time and running a few Frozen Shore units, was interested to see how they would fair versus the highly maneuverable Martells. Colin (Kolco) has been getting a few games in using proxies, but first-time using Doran (Hotah on field).
We randomly selected a scenario, and ended up with Here We Stand, which I had never played before as simply didn't fancy it. I'd had a quick glance through Doran and the Martell deck which is pretty good, but Colin's list was pretty fluffy to my mind..
Colin was running:
Sunspear Dervishes
(with Areo Hotah - Captain of the Guard (C) represented by the Mountain)
Sunspear Dervishes
Martell Spearmen
Martell Spearmen
Martell Spearmen
Non Combat Units
• Doran Martell (Walder) Nymeria Sand (Red Preistess) & Petyr Baelish
Using Stormcrows, the 2 units of Dervishes are Sunspear Dervishes, 2 Mercs and 1 bowmen = Spearmen
My list consisted of the following:
• Thenn Warriors with The Great Walrus - Lord of the Frozen Shore (C)
• Frozen Shore Chariot
• Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader
• Free Folk Raiders with Tormund Giantsbane
• Frozen Shore Bear Riders
• Spearwives with Raid Leader
NCU's
Craster & Lady Val
Set Up: Random terrain, wood bottom left, corpse pile centre, two bogs on right
MARTELLS (L to R): Horahs' Dervishes, Dervishes, Spearmen, Spearmen, Spearmen
FREEFOLK: Raiders with leader, Thenns with Walrus, Raiders with Tormund, Spearwives, FS Bear Riders, FS Chariot
AND 18" Deployment ZONE !!!
The Sunspear Dervishers with Hotah the Mountain (Stand Ins)
Three Units of Sunspear Spearmen (Stand Ins)
TURN 1
I opted to go second, so Colin had Baelish take the Water Gardens zone but use the Letters. I had Craster take the horses to move up my Bears, after taking the Letters myself, as Horah marched up off Doran swapping out the Crown...
I sent the Spearwives up the Centre to draw the Martells out, as the far right spears shifted back away from the Bears... That shift order is nice!!!
With all sorts of mad bonuses from Nymeria (+1 move, vicious, critical blow) Horah and his dervishes charged into my left Raiders!!!
With Precision and Critical blow, four 6's was a bummer!!! 4 wounds and 9 hits due to co-ordinated assault...
But I saved 3, even with the Vulnerable...
And with two men left, I then had a vicious panic check...
And I have to say, my dice were all good!!!
I played Diversion tactics to swing Tormund up and around.
Start of Turn I played Surrounded and Exposed to add panic and Vulnerable to Hotah's Dervishes...
Before the Giantsbane charged into the flank, killing 4 Dervishes...
And forcing a There's Too Many panic check...
Hotah then scurried away with swift retreat, only for the Other Dervishes to flank the brave Raiders. Unfortunately, Colin rolled a one and scored 3 hits, killing 3. But again, I aced the panic check!!!
The Walrus then charged in with his Thenns, with "Walrus' Strength " allowing me +1 to hit
I scored all 7 hits. But going through the woods gave the Dervishes a 3+ save, and Colin only lost 3 men, passing the morale check and retreating back...
In the centre, after shifting, the Spearmen easily charged the Spearwives, killing 2 but again, my morale was good enough to avoid additional casualties...
With everyone else dropping back a bit, I went for a last activation 6 plus charge into the flank with the chariot... Nearly made it but passed the panic!!!
Battlefield at End of Turn 1
Not many games have so much fun in first round. Hotah hit like a train, but so did Tormund
TURN 2
I went first and charged the chariot in, with a bit of overkill to gain critical blow. The Raid Leader gave me 5 attacks, plus 3 hits from ranks.
And with a failed panic, the spearmen were slaughtered to 2 men...
On my next activation, the Spearwives finished the job and squared off against the next lot of spearmen...
I also got Horses to play Endless Horde, putting them central to swing either quadrant as required...
The Bear Riders charged the flank of the middle spearmen, to pin them and keep spearwives and chariot safe...
Off the Crown, Hotah and his Dervishes had moved up, after the other Dervishes had used Parlay to not activate and stop Tormund from doing the same. Tormund does like the sound of his own voice!!! But with 4 men left, I took a risk and charged the Horah Dervishes.
Colin made all 4 saves, worth showing as his dice hadn't been good til then. Hotah's unit also healed two from auto-passing the panic... Hmmm....
Having shifted with their Tactical reposition, the Spearmen hit my bears in the rear...
But they'd been weakened turn 1, and only got 3 hits. And I saved 2 of them...
I did fail the panic and lost a Bear though. I moved the Thenns and Walrus into bottom left quadrant to score there, placed Val bottom right with Endless Horde Raiders to score bottom right while Bears, Chariot and Spearwives took top right. Colin scored from top left...
END OF TURN 2
FREEFOLK 4 VP's (1 unit, 3 Quadrants)
MARTELLS 1 VP (1 Quadrant)
TURN 3
Colin had Baelish take Swords but used bags to heal up Horah's Dervishes...
I activated and swung the Chariot into the right spearmens flank but only killed 3...
The Spearmen in the middle charged the Spearwives, scoring 3 hits. And I saved all 3... Colin wasn't impressed!!!
This allowed me to use Diversion tactics to move my Thenns more centrally and threaten the Dervishes
(Though I had a plan to use Val to swing round and hit the Spearmen)
The Bears turned to attack the Spearmen, but they were on Turn 3 with Rising Temperatures, so would only hit on a 5+...
Sorry Colin!!! Oh, and they have Precision. 3 Spearmen survived with the vicious panic claiming a few
I activated my Thenns to block off a sneaky Dervish charge on the Spearwives...
So they shifted and tried a long charge on Tormund but he was out of reach. I had also taken Horses for a second Endless horde Raiders unit far left. Nymeria NCU was placed in top right Quadrant...
But I activated Val and used her to retreat the spearwives out of melee, spear tossed and killed 1 Spearman before charging in...
With the Raid Leader, I scored 6 hits and wiped them out....
This allowed me to control both right Quadrants, contest the lower left and Colin scored off top left.
END OF TURN 3
FREEFOLK 7 VP's (2 units, 5 Quadrants)
MARTELLS 2 VP's (2 Quadrants)
TURN 4
Activating first, I took Val on swords to have Spearwives shift up, toss spears at the 9 spearmen and charge home...
The Spear toss dropped 3, I took a few wounds from Set for Charge but hit home
And had to apologise, as all 6 hits landed...
No panic check was required as the vulnerable token meant all 6 saves were failed. I dropped back centrally so I could go where required when they actually activated...
The Dervishes smacked into Tormund with dice over kill...
I took the horses to deny Hotah's Dervishes an additional move and repositioned the Thenns to guard the right Quadrants and Spearwives, who had moved into the bottom right...
Colin failed his morale when the Thenns taunted Hotah, and true to his bad luck, Colin rolled a1 on the charge...
He dropped me two ranks, but I survived and then retreated back into the top left quadrant...
END OF TURN 4
FREEFOLK 10 VP's (3 Units, 7 Quadrants)
MARTELLS 4 VP's (4 Quadrants)
Unused Deck at end: Didn't see all the Walrus cards, and had no regroup and reform all game...
Battlefield at the End
Well, I was wrong about the game mode, it was highly tactical and thoroughly enjoyable. The Martells have some nasty cards and movement tricks, and Hotah was scary. But my morale checks were amazing, I think I failed two all game. Worried I'm using all my luck ahead of LGT next weekend, but maybe hitting my stride. Colin is working his way through the Martells and I enjoyed seeing them in action but they only hit on 4's and that was a problem. (I mean I know FreeFolk are generally the same, but we have Raid Leaders) In hindsight the Spearmen couldn't hold back my forces and the Dervishes although tough, would have been better supporting them. At least that was Colin's thoughts post battle.
So, next up is the Friday ELO event on 30th in London, 3 chilled games running Varamyr and Mag, new commanders for me, before the main event, 7 games over two days running Mance (with a Mammoth)...
UK EVENTS
London GT ELO event for fluffy, friendly players 71 signed up 30th September Link
The MEGA 124 player 2 day event UK London Grand Tournament 1st & 2nd Oct Link
Event I'm running, a chilled wind down after London 16 Player 2 day event 22/23rd Oct at the RIBBLE RUMBLE, ELEMENT GAMES, STOCKPORT, UK LINK
PS - STILL PLACES AVAILABLE (MARTELLS CAN BE USED)
Sunday 6th November, Castle Gamers Starter Box Tourney, Gilead Village Hall, Heol Spencer, Coity, Bridgend, UK LINK 8 player, 30pt starter box event
Sunday 20th November Leodis Games Leeds No details as yet, but Leeds boys will post details here... Link
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