ASOIF LONDON GRAND TOURNAMENT: PART 2 THE MAIN EVENT (The First Day)

 After a long day Friday, and relatively subdued evening, the main event was upon us. 115 players made it, despite all manner of chaos with the railways, etc. No point babbling on, straight to battle it is...

I decided to run my "comfort blanket" list for Game 1 as it was against Baratheons. Having faced the Mr Ray and his Baratheons at Justplay countless times, figured I'd avoid the Wardens and target the weaker units if I could.

Free Folk Trappers with Mance Rayder - King Beyond the Wall (C)

Spearwives

Spearwives

Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader

Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader

Free Folk Raiders with Jarl - Advance Raid Leader

War Mammoth

Craster & Lady Val

GAME 1

PASCAL SIDDONS "ORGMO"

BARATHEONS

A Game of Thrones scenario

Pascal was staying on the same campsite, so we had already said hello to each other as you do when

people pass you on the way to the toilets a 0730.

Thorn Watch with Renly Baratheon - The Charismatic Heir

Baratheon Wardens

House Bolton Cutthroats

Riders of Highgarden

Baratheon Wardens

Cortnay Penrose, Olenna Tyrell & Shyra Errol

Lovely Riders of Highgarden and Bolton Cuthroats

NCU's and Wardens

Renly in his Thornwatch and more Wardens

SET UP

Terrain: Bog, Weirwood, Weirwood and Stakes

Baratheons: Wardens, Riders, Thornwatch, Wardens, Cutthroats

Free Folk: Raiders with Raid Leader, Spearwives, Mance in Trappers, Spearwives, Mammoth (It's Wolf Kicker!!!) and Raiders with Raid Leader. Jarl's Raider's on outflank

TURN 1

Pascal went first and took the letters. I responded with Craster on Horses for an Endless Horde.

I brought them on centrally...

And uncharacteristically, I failed the usual crown attack on my right Raiders...

Tactics board end of Turn 1

Board at End of Turn 1

I marched up on both flanks, and with my extra activations used my last activation on Val to push the Spearwives right up at the end, after the Riders had activated last, as they were within 8"...

TURN 2

Craster took the swords, and the Spear wives shifted, tossed and charged!!! I was excitable as usual, hence the wobbly camera shake. I caused a few wounds but didn't bait a charge as I'd hoped. I think Pascal advanced on the left off the horses to deny me the Jarl's Raider. That allowed me to gamble, taking a 3 or 4+ charge with the Mammoth into the Cutthroats, killing 5. Shyra took the crown and  healed a wound on the Riders. Crown attack failed...

I then followed that up with a 4+ charge through the stakes with my right Raiders and raid leader in what Pascal described as "ballsy". I simply wanted to press home my advantage on the right. I made the charge and lost 3 Raiders, but with the Raider Leader in melee I had 7 attacks on 3+

I scored all hits with all seven...

And with a panic check fail, the Bolton Cutthroats were wiped out. I lost 2 more raiders as they surged forth to take the far-right objective.

The Baratheon Wardens in the centre flanked my Spearwives, dropping them by six models. However, I used regroup and reform to bolster them adding the Raid Leader to them too.

I think I used Wildling Diplomacy, as Courtney was kept off the board and the HighGarden Riders may not have appreciated it. Think Olenna stopped me using Craters ability, but I was good on the zone.

End of Turn 2

FREEFOLK 4 VP's (1 unit, 3 objectives)

BARATHEONS 1 VP (1 objective)

Board at End of Turn 2

Mance and his Trappers had taken the centre, getting shot by the Thorn Watch. I also claimed the left side objective, while swinging my free Raiders towards the right objective.

TURN 3

I activated off the swords and sent the spearwives into the Thornwatch, dropping five. Pascal used the Horses to retreat the Highgarden riders, so I used Co-ordination tactics to allow the Trappers to shoot and charge. If I'd gotten more than one shooting hit, I think I'd have popped them. As it was, it put a big dent in them...

Renly activated and retreated, healing as he went. This allowed the left spearwives charge into the rear of the Wardens engaging their sisters...

I scored all seven hits...

The right side Raiders on the far objective died to panic, so I retreated my Spearwives out of combat with the Wardens and onto the objective. This prompted the healed up Riders to flank me and drop me to two models, but I passed the panic. Having held, Wolf Kicker was an inch away and it seemed rude not to. He dropped a rank meaning I still controlled the objective, with the other two objectives my side having raiders on them.

END OF TURN 3

FREEFOLK 7 VP's (1 unit, 6 objectives)

BARATHEONS 2 VP's (2 objectives)

Board at the End of Turn 3

The Baratheons were weakened, but my own forces were diminishing...

TURN 4

Not 100% on the sequence of events but do remember I fluffed with the Mammoth.

But the Raiders were still hanging on with 2 wounds..

But I do remember playing a second Co-ordination tactics on Mance and his trapper, shooting the Riders and charging in to deliver the coup de grace before surging back to take the centre objective...

A left side charge by the Wardens failed, and rather than risk the spearwives missing the Wardens, I retreated them. With 4 objective controlled and another dead Baratheon unit, the game ended...

END OF TURN 4 (and GAME)

FREEFOLK 12 VP's (2 units, 10 VP's)

BARATHEONS (3 objectives)

END OF GAME

Well that went well, especially picking on the Cutthroats and taking some "ballsy" risks. Pascal was surprised I was on his Riders so early, and then risked the stakes like I did but sometimes you gotta just let them Raiders die. Pascal totally owned the tactics board after Turn 1 and was beating himself up over the first turn faux pas. Have to say it was a good game from my point of view, and Pascal was a true gent to play against. Was good to have a great, chilled start to the event and as I said at the start, he was on the same site so we had a good natter around the lack of campfire later...

NOT AN ADVERT

CONQUEST: LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS

Para-Bellum Games brought out this 38mm rank and file game in late 2019, just pre-Covid.

They had a 14 player one day event at the LGT on the Saturday, and if it had been a two-day event I may have opted to play that. I say may, I think ASOIF is better, but trust me, these models are the best I've seen in any Fantasy range. As usual, my wee Canon camera doesn't do them justice

Awesome Prize support for a 14-player event

Leandros is the community manager for Para-Bellum and points like the God he is...

Spire (Alien Clones) v Old Dominion (Undead Romans)

The winning army of Wa'drhun, Savage "orc-like" dinosaur riders..

AND AN OLD FRIEND OF A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE DOES SOME GREAT BAT REPS OF CONQUEST...  Blitzminis LINK

HOPE HIS LATEST A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE BATREP LINK IS FIRST OF MANY MORE

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE INDIVIDUAL PAINTING

No words, just enjoy...

GAME 2

CARLY CARVALHO "CARVALHO"

GREYJOYS

Dark Wings, Dark Words Scenario

I've met Carly at a previous event earlier in the year, but we've not had the pleasure 

of playing. He also writes for the Frontline Gaming blog too and I've linked his report on the LGT here LINK He was running a nice "Asha on deck" Greyjoy force, which helped me a 

bit as I tend to run Asha when I use mine. I stuck with the same list, the Mammoth

 usually being a target for missiles to allow the rest of the force to close...

Carly's List was a tough one, with firepower and a unit respawn.

Ironborn Reavers with Asha Greyjoy - The Kraken's Daughter (C)

Silenced Men with Victarion Greyjoy - Master of the Iron Victory

Ironborn Bowmen

Ironborn Bowmen

Ironborn Trappers

Wendamyr, Balon Greyjoy & Petyr Baelish

Bowmen, Silenced Men and Trappers

Asha's Reavers and Bowmen

SET UP

TERRAIN: Palisade, Weirwood, Weirwood, Wall

GREYJOYS: Bowmen, Silenced Men, Trappers, Asha's Reavers, Bowmen

FREE FOLK: Raiders with RL, Spearwives, Mance Trappers tucked behind, Raiders with RL, Mammoth, Spearwives. Jarl Raiders kept off board...

Not a great fan of this scenario, but concentrated heavily on right to hit the Greyjoys there. Was willing to concede the left objective and see how it played out...

TURN 1

Carly went first and blocked the horses with Baelish using the letters. I took letters with Craster and let the Greyjoys take the board keeping Val back.

The Spearwives got hit with the crown..

And normal first turn result resumed...

END OF TURN 1

Leaving Val until last, the Mammoth advanced on the bowmen. Not subtle, engage Mammoth, draw in Asha and hold back on my left as best I could.

TURN 2

Into the Ironborn Bowmen Wolf Kicker? Nah, I took the Horses and brought the Jarl on top right...

Good call as Carly took the swords, the bowmen shot the Mammoth and failed to wound it. I then charged, avoiding the wall but only dropped 3 Bowmen...

As my initial attack was absolutely superb...

But was weakened to a meagre 5 hits, 2 of which Carly saved...

Wolf Kicker got flanked and badly mauled by Asha's Reavers, but I in turn hit the flank of the Bowmen and dropped them to 3 men...

It was kicking off good style on the right, but the left seemed a bit more sedate...

Well, until I sent forth the Raid Leader to try and hold off  Victarion after he had shuffled up using Relentless. I killed 1, and then they failed their morale badly. (Karma for the Silenced Men) 

With a reduced rank, they only killed two Raiders on activation thanks to Mance. Not sure how I finished off the bowmen, think it was a luck crown attack but didn't take a picture...

END OF TURN 2

FREEFOLK 3 VP's

GREYJOYS 2 VP's

TURN 3 

Carly had Baelsih take the bags but sue the swords, allowing Asha to finish off Wolf Kicker...

I used the swords with Val to get the Spearwives to spear toss and charge Asha, dropping her Reavers to half though they passed their panic and healed up with Raider Bravery. The Spearwives got flanked in turn by the Netters but they only killed two. I then had Craster take the horses to play Endless Horde.

It was turning into a proper scrum!!!

And the Jarl's lads really smacked Asha's Reavers, with a There's Too Many and a morale fail leaving Asha all alone...

Asha on her own then survived the second spearwives with What is Dead may never die

But they then charged in and finished the job...

END OF TURN 3

GREYJOYS 5 VP's

FREEFOLK 5 VP's

BATTLEFIELD END OF TURN 3

I was winning the attrition battle, but Carly was playing a blinder with war cry was allowing the Greyjoys to score points with cashing in two tokens off one of the card, hence them keeping up

TURN 4

Apologies again for the lack of images, as got a bit tense as we both sought to get ahead. With no Asha, the Silenced Men still managed to pass a hefty panic from the Raiders attack which could have finished them off...

Perhaps a key point of the battle was the Ironbron archers scoring 4 hits on my last 3 raiders...

and I managed to save all 4 and pass the morale check!!!

The Netters couldn't finish the Spearwives off, though the Jarl's Raider failed to connect on their charge. A Crown attack killed the spearwives off though, but this only allowed the other spearwives to charge into the netters and score 6 hits on 5+'s...

Asha and her Reavers rejoined the fray on the right side through Balon, but I used Val to move the Endless Horde Raiders up around to outflank them as we moved to Turn 5 and also claim the right side objective...

END OF TURN 4

GREYJOYS 9 VP's

FREEFOLK 7 VP's

TURN 5

Carly took the swords and the Silenced Men finally finished off my right-side, resilient Raiders

The Trappers then were hit in the flank but they took it well

Despite another Mance classic failure on the morale!!!

I had regrouped and reformed to move Mance out and heal them up, while the Jarls Raiders finished off the Netters and took the centre objective

Asha's Reborn Reavers cut through my Raider unit but they survived...

After the raiders were healed by Craster, they attacked the Silenced Men, cutting a few down but turning to face, making room for the spearwives to spear toss and charge wiping them out, consolidating back towards Asha...

With that, the game ended at the end of Turn 5

FINAL SCORE

GREYJOYS 10 VP's

FREE FOLK 11VP's

That was a real nail biter and have to say Carly played the cards far better than I did. I just had enough to kill the Silenced Men and Netters at the end AND keep Asha off the objective while claiming the centre. It could easily have been a victory for the Greyjoys, which would not have been undeserved. We both had some bad morale checks despite the 5+ buff zones, just a shame I missed a picture of the spearwives charge into the netters and acing the attacks despite disrupt!!! But the raiders on the right were the unsung heroes holding up Victarion and his Silenced men. 

Great to play Carly, it was thrill-a-minute, nerve-wracking, roller-coaster of a battle, and using those War Cry token turn 2 or 3 scoring points was very classy, as they weren't played until towards the end of the round and I never saw them coming. I don't like this scenario is that I like simplicity!!! A very, very close win...

GAME 3

LEE HALLE "HALLE888"

LANNISTERS

Scenario: A Clash of Kings

Having played a similar Warrior Son heavy Lannister list at Redcar against "Fizzwizz", I knew these units would be hard to crack and fighting astraight up fight wouldnt work. Maneuver would be the key to ganging up on them. Accordingly, I opted for my second Mance list for an additional activations but also, for a third NCU as Lee only had two in each list. My second Mance list dropped my Mammoth and a Spearwives unit, but I felt Varamyr and his pets, Tormund Raiders along with Styr NCU would give me an edge

• Free Folk Trappers with Mance Rayder - King Beyond the Wall (C) • Varamyr Sixskins - Master Skinchanger • Wolf Pack • Shadowcat • Spearwives with Raid Leader • Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader • Free Folk Raiders with Tormund Giantsbane NCU's • Lady Val, Craster & Styr

Lee didn't get to do the traditional cheesy thumbs up smile, as he was just too cool and laid back

 already. He hasn't been playing that long and had not faced Mance so I did talk through what everyone hates about Free Folk and Mance in particular, but he was happy to also learn as we go.

LEE's LIST

The Warrior's Sons with Addam Marbrand - Commander of the City Watch (C) The Warrior's Sons with Champion of the Faith The Warrior's Sons with Champion of the Faith Poor Fellows

Gregor Clegane - The Mountain That Rides NCU's Petyr Baelish & Lord Varys SET UP: Weir Wood, Corpse Pile, Weir Wood, Corpse Pile

Lannsiters: Warriors Sons, Warriors Sons, Adam's Warrior Sons, Mountain, Poor Fellows

Free Folk: Wolfpack, Spearwives, Varamyr, Tormund's Raiders, Mance behind, Raiders with RL

,

I had hoped to gang up on the Poor Fellows and see how it went but putting the Mountain next to them meant I deployed my wolfpack and hardest hitters (spearwives) on my left to try and pick off the Warriors Son unit there then swing around...

TURN 1

I opted to go first, having Styr take the horses for an Endless Horde, brought on my left side

Baelish took the letters and Varys the crown as I used up 

I advanced up all across the left and centre, with the Wolf being propelled into a flank position. I also War Cried with Tormund on the left side Warriors Sons...

BOARD AT END OF TURN 1

I had got the long plan when Craster took the bags and swapped it out at the end of the round

Getting the Mountain killer (I hoped)

TURN 2

Activating first, and seeing I was looking to swamp him, Lee tried a charge into my Endless Horde raiders, but failed...

I had the Styr take the Horses and play my second Endless hordes. I had both in my opening hand!!!

Adam and his Warrior Sons charged into my Raid Leader raiders, killing five but allowing me to move Varamyr up with Diversion Tactics...

Which allowed him on activation to get into the rear and charge into the already activated Warrior Sons!!!

With his vicious and rear bonus, they died in droves and when the wolfpack joined in the flank, it negated their battle prayer ability. The Endless Horde left side Raiders charged in and dropped them to two men...

Having successfully used Wildling Diplomacy to drop the Mountain to one wound, (as Lee took the swords to get Adam to attack the Raiders, not quite finishing them) the Mountain charged in and auto wounded the reamining two. This allowed a manuever from Val to set my recently arrived raiders to flank the Mountain (after Tormund had War Cried) and they took the Man Mountain down (his activation token being removed below)

I then surged forth back onto the right near objective. Sneakily, Mance and his Trappers used their bow attack and finished off the left Warrior Sons as the Spearwives took the left objective. Tormund charged in to Adam and killed one man as my left hook swung around. Also, as you can see below (and to my eternal shame) the Shadow cat came on mid-turn and marched into the rear of the Lannister lines...

END OF TURN 2

FREEFOLK 3 VP's 

(2 unit (includes +1 for Commander kill) 1 objective)

LANNISTERS 1 VP

 (1 objective)

TURN 3

I took the Swords and had Tormund's unit smack Adam off the swords, after war crying and managed to drop a rank. The other Warrior Sons charged through the corpse pile to protect Adam's flank, dropping seven raiders. But this exposed their flank to a Wolfpack attack 

Varamyr then hit them in the rear to leave one man alive, which Mance then finished off with arrows again. The Shadowcat hit Adam in the rear and my Raiders charged into the Poor Fellows

END OF TURN 3

FREEFOLK 6 VP's 

(4 unit (includes +2 for Commander kill) 2 objectives)

LANNISTERS 2 VP's

 (2 objective)

TURN 4

Baelish took the swords to get Adam attacking

But Wildling diplomacy deterred him from doing so...

Adam activated and killed the Shadowcat, but this allowed both the wolfpack and Varamyr to attack from the rear, Tormund in front, Endless horde right Raiders in the flank. And still I couldn't kill Adam

As it allowed Mance and his Trappers to shoot him down and score three VP's, while the Raiders had taken the centre objective

END OF TURN 4 (and GAME)

FREEFOLK 11 VP's

(4 unit (includes +3 for Commander kill) 4 objectives) 

LANNISTERS 3 VP's

 (3 objectives)

That was a hard ask for Lee, especially with two Endless Hordes in starting hand. Lee took it well, a bit of a baptism of fire to face Mance when my dice were truly on fire and I had 12 activations by middle of turn 2. Even when fully surrounded, the Warriors Sons were resilient. The Wolfpack's "distract" ability is fairly phenomenal against them though and i also learned why Tormund is an auto include for most Free Folk list. With Mance 5+ morale bubble to start, Tormund adds +2 so a 3+ morale. That's mental!!!

GAME 4

Scenario:Honed and Ready

DAVE TOONE "Teklea2021"

STARKS

(Cunningly disguised as...)

Table 4, playing Dave Toone, one of a rare breed in that he has actually commented on one of my blog posts. We have never met, and maybe exchanged a few posts on social media, but when I saw his list (and like-wise when he saw my double Mance) we just started a game of piss taking and banter like friends of old. We both felt we had punched above our respective ability level to get to table four on game four of the LGT!!! If you've read any of my reports against PsychoSte you'll know I detest Tully Cavaliers and did so at eight dice before they started smacking for ten hits! And with Eddard and Tycho, this force could run right over me!!!

Dave's list is below 

House Karstark Loyalists with Greatjon Umber, Lord of Last Hearth (C) House Tully Cavaliers ( 8 ) House Tully Cavaliers ( 8 ) House Tully Cavaliers ( 8 ) Non Combat Units Eddard Stark & Tycho Nestoris

I opted to run the Mance with Varamyr list as I would need maneuverability again and was against 2 NCU's, as my initial plan was to retreat and buff as best I could as would not out heal Eddard and Tycho. But that was on set up, as my opening card hand again was just what I needed.

Yapping away, I didn't do a set up picture I'm afraid. But we had 4 Weirwood trees and it was something like:

 Tully's, Umber in Karstarks, Tully's, Tully's

I concentrated on right with Tormund raiders centre left, spearwives, Mance behind, Varmayr and wolfpack, Raiders with RL

TURN 1

I went first, taking the horses with Styr and playing an Endless Horde before 

Tycho took the letter

I brought them on far left for the objective there...

With eleven activation's versussix, I was able to use Val and Spearwives late to march up, move then take swords for spear toss and charge to pin the Karstarks and draw in the Tull's centrally where I could swamp and pin... Dave had marched right up with Greatjon so that helped. At least that was my plan!!!

END OF TURN 1

Tactics Board at End of Turn 1

                                                                      TURN 2

Having already expended an Endless Horde and The Long Plan to get a Regroup and Reform, I drew one card. Man, I need to play some poker!!! It;s a dream first five cards...

But anyway, Tycho took the swords

Greatjon and his Karstarks whiffed (they need 4's to hit) and killed 2 spearwives. But Dave had left the horses open, so I played my second Endless Hordes with Styr taking the horses and influencing the Spearwives. I brought them up behind the first one...

Apologies for the blurry image, but below you can see the Wolfpack charged one Tully unit to engage and pin (or draw in the second unit). The Greatjon has activated and attacked the spearwives who effectively didnt take any wounds as Mance's trappers healed them 3. To my eternal shame, the Shadowcat came on and charged the left side Tully's, pinning them. It died when they attacked.

Dave charged the unengaged Tully knights into the Trappers and Mance, which with 10 dice on 3+'s with rerolls was frightening

But Dave somehow managed to only score 5 hits...

I used Regroup and reform to move Mance over to the right-side raiders and heal up the Trappers to keep the Tullys engaged. The Spearwives retreated an inch to control the centre objective while my two Endless horde raiders occupied the left two. Tormund moved up to threaten the unengaged Tully unit. And the Wolfpack only suffered a single wound from the Tully's...

END OF TURN 2

FREEFOLK 4 VP's (4 objectives)

TULLY's 0 VP's

TURN 3

I had Styr take the swords, allowing a spear toss and charge into the Karstarks with the spearwives, dropping them to 5 models. 

They healed up off bags, allowing me to charge Tormund into the Tully's and pin them in melee, dropping one in the process...

And unbelievably, the wolves only took another single wound from the Cavaliers!!! Which I then healed with Craster's once per game ability 

Varamyr had charged the Tully's engaged with the Trappers last turn too...

Allowing the Trappers to retreat out of combat, then use Val to move and take the objective.

Mance took a pair of wounds from the Tully Cavaliers making him angry

All 6 attacks (2 extra as had taken 2 wounds) hit...

But Dave popped Tycho to negate the mauling I'd given them

END OF TURN 3

FREEFOLK 9 VP's (9 objectives)

TULLY's 0 VP's

I had retook the objective properly having tried to shift and shoot with Mance's Trappers, before realising I'd shifted Mance into Raiders...D'oh!!! But I had both right objectives and the centre.

And on the left had both objectives too

TURN 4

I had Craster take Swords but use healing ability. Eddard took bags to shoot off the wall and wipe out the depleted Trappers that had lost men form the previous scoring...

The Eddard healing was outperforming mine, but I was keeping them locked..

Tycho took the letters in a change of tactic

Shooting Mance's Raiders from the wall and wiping them out, just for the hell of it. 

Wilding Diplomacy hit the Tully engaging Varamyr...

Under predictable maneuvers, I had the ability to attack again with Varamyr

And scored 7 hits...

With one wound left, the Tully's played lash out and killed Varamyr...

In response, Varamyr took the horses and retreated the spearwives...

Who then activated, and spear tossed (which were saved) before charging home

With the aid of the vulnerable token, the Tully Cavaliers were destroyed!!!

And with a last stand, still failed to kill my super girls!!!

Who then surged forth back onto the centre objective. The Tully's who ahd finally killed the Wolfpack were an inch off the far right objective.

END OF TURN 4

FREEFOLK 13 VP's (1 unit, 12 objectives)

TULLY'S 2 VP's (2 units)

Dave was a real blast to play against, and years of being beasted by Ste with his Tully's cane back in spades against Dave. I got perfect cards to start, brilliant dice all game, and yeah, everything went right for me. The plan to avoid combat wouldn't have worked, but getting twice as many activations and being able to deny too many charges certainly did. The wolfpack held for 3 rounds!!! The constant sledging and mickey taking throughout made it all the more enjoyable. Dave insisted I take th picture of Mance getting shot off the wall as I was taking pics of all my successes. And of course, the Not-so-Greatjon!!! Those Spearwives were brilliant. I genuinely did not have a bad opponent, or bad game all weekend, but this was simply one of the best games I've played and one of the best opponents I have ever faced. Hope to get to a Chelmsford bunker event one day and face this guy again when he brings a half decent army!!!

END OF DAY 1

Amazingly, I had won all 4 games and would start tomorrow on table 2 in fourth place, facing an old foe. I simply could not have asked for better opponents, better cards, better dice and better luck than I did on Day 1. But I'd already surpassed my expectations for the weekend, so I had nothing to lose going into Day 2

UK EVENTS

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

(PLACES AVAILABLE AND 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