The second day started with the end of the first day, as the venue shut earlier than expected so we were sat out in the cold with Pascal and his troupe along with some of the Dutch lads who were in the camp site near us. Luke from Duke's Gaming and his Marvel Protocol buddies, having struggled with the cinema's complex door mechanism, had given up after an hour and came to find some proper entertainment. Have to say that we had a great night of socialising, with Ste losing his title to PsychoGreg, "The Butcher of Manchester"!!! Not drinking allows some seriously good memories including knowing some prick that knows some slick tricks with bricks.

And that dog has really small eyes!!!

Anyway, after 4 hours sleep (as I got up at 0500) I rocked up to table 2 after a fine four wins to face up against Chris Baker. Again!!!

How many times this year at events, Chris? Yeah, last four events we've both been at we have faced off against each other, with my Mance and Mammoth winning the first at Board and Swords, Chris slapping down my all female Harma list at Leodis in Leeds before a technical draw against Mance and the Mammoth again (although there were more Lannisters on the board at the end of that one). Chris has a truly inspirational Lannister force, that really is an all-comer force that he knows inside out. (He beat Masarath (The Invitational Winner) the preceding game to get to Table 2...

CHRIS BAKER "Chris-fnm"

LANNISTERS

A FEAST FOR CROWS

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

 Lannister Guardsmen 

 Lannister Crossbowmen with Bronn - The Sellsword 

 Gregor Clegane - The Mountain That Rides 

 Poor Fellows with Champion of the Faith 

NCU's Petyr Baelish, Pycelle & The High Sparrow

SET UP

Lannister Deployment (L to R): Adam in Warriors Sons, Mountain, Crossbows, Poor Fellows, Guardsmen

Terrain: was mirrored, with each corpse pile having a Weir Wood and stakes nearby.

I kept with my Mance and Varamyr combination as felt I'd need the activations again and to compete on the tactics board. I felt Chris had given me an opening by deploying his two hardest units on my left, so deployed heavily right.

Free Folk: Mance in Trappers, Spearwives, Wolves, Varamyr, with Tormund tucked in behind, Raiders with Leader

TURN 1

I'd been telling every man nad his dog about how lucky my cards had been on Day 1, and again, in the opening hand I was blessed with Endless Horde, so had Varamyr take the Horses to play it and bring a unit on to my left which I'd use to slow down Lannister forces there

Baelish took the bags but used the Crown on my far-right Raiders...

Yeah, I passed again...

I took the Letters with while the Raider lost 4 to a second crown attack, then had Val bring Varamyr up early...

And Chris failed an early War Cry on Varamyr...

We were both closing in on the right objective, and I was looking to get the wolfpack into the flank of the Guardsmen to cancel Lannister Supremacy

The left was looking a bit dull as I wasn't going to contest it...

BOARD END OF TURN 1

TACTICS BOARD END OF TURN 1

TURN 2

Chris had Pycelle take the horses and move Adam's unit towards centre, I had Val take the bags and move my right raiders up to take the objective.

The Champion of Faith passed his War Cry and hit the Raiders with a panic and vulnerable

On the left, the Mountain took the objective as Adam continued his long walk towards the fighting...

With more activations, I let Chris do his units, as it got tense and I didn't take too many pics. But the Guardsmen charged the Raidiers and seized the objective from them. I used coordination tactics on Mance and his Trappers to fire and charge in, before they were charged by Poor Fellow. I then looked to do Tormund s war cry, before realizing I couldn't play a card as start of turn clash. Chris let me do the card, which was very good of him, then regretted it as using, regroup and reform, moved Mance out of the trapper and into the Raiders, buffing them and leaving just 2 trappers. Chris took the opportunity finish them with crossbows, allowing a corpse pile in my lines that Tormund would pick up. The Wolves sped down the flank ready for next turn, Varamyr hit the Guardsmen and mauled them. Then, to my eternal shame, the shadowcat appeared and charged in the rear, causing a panic failure. I'll discuss this in length at the end, as at the time, despite discussing how broken the shadowcat was, I didn't realise my error

END OF TURN 2

LANNISTERS 2 VP's (1 unit, 1 objective)

FREEFOLK 2 VP's (2 objectives)

TURN 3

With the right side now the battfeield, I had to maintain my initiative.

Styr on the swords saw Varamyr savage the last rank of Guardsmen

All five attacks hitting...

Aided by poor armour rolls from Chris...

Chris took the swords to fire crossbows and kill the shadowcat, allowing Craster to take the horses and play my second endless horde, to Chris's frustration. I brought them on behind Tormund's unit, to free him up for the impending arrival of Adam...

We closed out the tactics board with Val on the crown and moving wolf up to threaten crossbows flank.

The poor Fellows moved back to take the corpse pile of the fallen Guardsmen, and I sent the first Endless horde raiders into speed bump Adam and his Warriors sons. The Crossbows shot and killed two but I passed my panic with them

I'd edged ahead on points, and Chris knew he would have to chase, which would be difficult given my forces were withdrawing to hold what they had.

Adam and the Warriors sons charge the Raiders, but frustratingly left them on one wound. I then passed across the front of the Crossbows and into the flank of the Poor Fellows, dropping them three of them.

END OF TURN 3

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

FREEFOLK 5 VP's (1 unit, 4 objectives)

TURN 4

Acting off the swords, Adam finished off the lone Raider, just as the 15-minute warning sounded. This would be the last round. I took the horses to deny it to Chris and double back up the spearwives (as a scoring unit).

Chris was compelled to try a crown attack, but I had Wildling diplomacy, and the Mountain is always juicy choice. But Chris was chasing and had to go with it...

Sure enough, with my dice, I rolled a 3 and the Mountain died...

As I mauled the Poor Fellows, they lashed out doing two wounds to the wolfpack...

The crossbows shot Mance and his Raiders, who failed their panic and dropped the token. But they were unactivated

The Poor Fellows killed the wolves, and Adam's valiant long bomb charge on Tormund failed...

I simply acted out my units, although Mance retrieved the token

END OF TURN 4

LANNISTERS 5 VP's (1 unit, 4 objectives)

FREEFOLK 8 VP's (2 units, 6 objectives)

Another amazingly close and tense game with Chris, who is an absolute gent to play against. Even more so as it was only after the game that the Shadowcat cock up was brought to light, when Chris was talking with his mates.

I cannot apologise enough for it now, nor in future and I was genuinely crestfallen, not just over my error but the fact we discussed the shadowcat in game and I simply didnt check the wording on the card. The Shadowcat deploys at the start of any ROUND, not any Turn. We hadn't confirmed our results, but Chris simply clicked confirm and accepted my apology, which says far more about him than I can. Until I wrote the reports and seen the pictures, I wasn't even sure how I'd played the shadow cat in Day 1, which shows I made the same mistake against Lee and Dave, so apologies to you both for that, (although I don't think it had such an impact in those games). The shadowcat made the guards drop the objective, to tie 2-2 at end of round 2. Chris should have been 3-1 ahead, and I'd have been chasing the game. I am so sorry for that, Chris. You played magnificently, and you had every right to be sore. Instead, you felt you had to apologise to me for moaning about Mance, Endless horde, shadowcat etc, when really, you didnt detract from detract from the game at all. We did tell the organisers, but they were content to move on, and again, I have Chris's general decency to thank for that. I still felt (and still feel reliving it) like a total dick though...

But I had won 5 (by hook or by Crooke) and had landed on the top table for Game 5

TOP EIGHT ARMIES FOR EVENT

(Dont know all of the owners I'm afraid)

GAME 6

On the Top Table against the Main Man(ce)

JACOB BAILEY " sirjacobofglais"

FREEFOLK

Scenario: A Dance with Dragons

Not played Jacob before, but his reputation precedes him. A really, nice guy, who knows FreeFolk inside out and doesn't make mistakes. (He'd also battered Ste at the Welsh Nationals a few months back, so sound in my eyes. I was running Mance and Varamyr again

A video of this match is available from Northern Realm Gaming NRG Link

(Many thanks for the kind words in commentary Daryl)

Jacob's list was standard fair for the "Top Players", which I don't include myself in. Jacob was complimentary enough to say it was nice to see Spearwives in a list but I felt I was in trouble facing twin chariots...

• Free Folk Trappers with Mance Rayder - King Beyond the Wall (C) • Free Folk Trappers • Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader • Free Folk Raiders with Tormund Giantsbane • Frozen Shore Chariots • Frozen Shore Chariots • Varamyr Sixskins - Master Skinchanger NCU's • Lady Val, Craster & Ygritte

SET UP: Weir Wood, Bog, Weir Wood, Bog

Jacob's set up (L to R): Raiders, Trappers, Tormund Raiders, Trappers (Mance), Varamyr, Chariots in the rear facing flanks

My Free Folk: Tormund Raiders, Raiders, Varamyr, Wolfpack with Mance behindin Trappers, Spearwives

TURN 1

4 games in a row!!! Activating first, I had Styr take the Horses and play Endless horde, bringing them on my left...

We closed out the tactics board pretty quickly...

With Tormund's unit suffering from a crown attack early despite the Weirwood. Jacobs guys were more tightly bunched than mine, but his chariots were worrying...

TURN 2

Activating with Ygritte, Jacob took the horses and played Endless hordes, bringing them on my right

I needed to play aggressively, as didn't think I could hold off in this match up. I charged in with my Endless horde unit against his far left raiders...

But they died quickly to a chariot smash after being trapped on their way in. Damn Raid leaders!!! But with Diversion tactics, I sent Tormund up...

And he smashed into the Raiders. They struck back, and I Tormund died relatively quickly and far to easily to a trapper charge

The tactics board again filled up quickly, with Craster taking the crown and getting the Raiders that had retreated away from Tormund to drop the objective and take 3 wounds. Jacob was kicking himself over his mistake in leaving it open after they had activated...

Hmm, losing my left two units so easily seemed to have been a bit rash with hindsight.

Still, I am stubborn and nothing if not persistent...

I did manage to do one thing useful, sending the Wolfpack up to pin bad Varamyr in place after the chariots had activated. My Varamyr then took the objective by mauling Jacob's Endless horde, that had marched onto it, while my Spearwives managed a flank charge into Tormunds Raiders to claim the centre objective

END OF TURN 2

JACOB's FREEFOLK 0 VP's

MY FREEFOLK 2 VP's (2 objectives)

Board at End of Turn 2

TURN 3

I activated off swords and the Spearwives hacked down a few Raiders. Bad Varamyr in turn charged them in the rear. I moved Trappers up and killed Tormund's unit

The rear trappers shot up the spearwives that had finished of Bad Varamyr rather surprisingly

But my left was collapsing as the chariot smashed into the Raiders there, having been beaten up by Mance, with only two remaining.

After being shot by trappers, I had to give up some of my own to regroup and reform with my own to keep the Spearwives in the fight. Jacob's three raiders took the left objective

And Good Varamyr single handedly saw off the Raiders on the right

Sadly, the right chariot smashed into the spearwives, taking the objective when they fail their panic check and leaving one wife alive...

END OF TURN 3

JACOB's FREEFOLK 2 VP's (2 objectives)

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

TURN 4

Jacob took swords and the chariot attacked, but only killed one Raider. I then activated spearwives, to try and get lucky on the right chariot, but only caused a wound and the There's Too Many panic was passed. Jacob retreated away. The Raiders with the objective charged in and killed my last Raider moving away. I then healed up my Trappers, but the chariot finished them off anyway. So I took the crown and killed the three raiders holding the left objective...

The remnants of my forces were wholly surrounded. With Ygritte influencing and in a bog with an objective, Varamyr couldnt move...

And the trappers shot the lone spearwife down, as the new Endless horde raider Jacob produced came up claim the left objective...

END OF TURN 4

JACOB's FREEFOLK 6 VP's (2 units, 4 objectives)

My FREEFOLK 5 VP's (1 unit, 4 objectives)

Tactics Board at End of Turn 4

TURN 5

A Futile gesture, I played Endless Horde and brought on spearwives to err, bolster my stricken bear rider...

Jacob's Free Folk closed in.

And the chariot charged into kill Varamyr and end the game...

END OF TURN 5 (and Game)

JACOB's FREEFOLK 10 VP's (3 units, 7 objectives)

MY FREEFOLK 5VP's (1 unit, 4 objectives)

Table END OF GAME

Well, at least the Endless Horde Spearwives save me from being tabled. I had been fairly lucky to avoid one of the top players on the way here (no disrespect to any of my previous opponents, I mean the Invitational chaps). Jacob was a class opponent, knows his list and doesn't make any (major) mistakes. It's no insult to say, similar like when I've played Carlo C-H before, it genuinely feels like he is playing beneath himself and toying with you as it's almost automatic in how he knows exactly what to do and simply wins. That probably doesnt sound complimentary but it is, they are intimate with their whole army, cards, abilities at a level I, and the majority of players to my mind, simply are not. But I had a go, and it was a good fun game. The Shadowcat got dead due to Wilding diplomacy as I was pushing it having lost two units cheaply early on. It was a well-deserved win, and despite our large activations, we got to Turn 5 and end of game with 40 minutes to spare. i saw someone suggest in the NRG video chat that if I slow played I could have had him, but I simply don't know how (and doubt I could have).

Anyway, rambling again, Jacob was a great opponent and easily deserved the win. I dropped back to table four for the final game of the event

GAME 7

Aaron Cifuentes (Nakimp4)

FREEFOLK

Scenario: A Game of Thrones

Aaron was part of the Spanish Contingent and was running a very similar Mance list to Jacob, except had a Follower of Bone rather than a raid leader. Have to say, he was a true gentlemen and very patient with me given my lack of English...

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

• Free Folk Raiders with Tormund Giantsbane
• Free Folk Raiders with Champion of Bone
• Free Folk Trappers
• Frozen Shore Chariots

• Frozen Shore Chariots

 • Varamyr Sixskins - Master Skinchanger 

NCU's

Lady Val, Craster & Ygritte

I stuck with my Mance Varamyr list and set up as below:

Terrain: Weir wood, corpse pile, Weir wood, Weir wood

Aaron's Free Folk: Chariot, Bad Varamyr, Trappers, Tormund Raiders, Mance Trappers, FOB Raiders with chariot behind

My Free Folk: RL Raiders, Wolfpack, Tormund Raiders, Varamyr, Mance Trappers, Spearwives

TURN 1

Aaron was first to activate but choosing an NCU I played Wilding Diplomacy so he declined. I had Styr take the Horses but had no Endless horde so advanced the Spearwives on my far right...

The tactics board filled up rather quickly but I'd snuck in and got 3

The right side chariot was guarding against shadow cat and spearwives, so was kept well back. I redeployed with Varamyr as felt my left was weak and wolf moved centrally

TURN 2

I brought shadowcat on to the left to worry the Trappers and Aaron went first. When Aaron activated, I used my second Wilding diplomacy so he declined to use his NCU.

Having used War Cry on Bad Varamyr, I went for a 50/50 charge with the Raiders, hitting and with the vulnerable, killing the Bad Bear Rider, surging back onto the left objective. Aaron then activated an NCU and took the Horses for Endless Hordes on my right

Tormund's Raider seized the centre...

The Trappers shifted and shot Tormunds flank for 3 wounds...

But Shadowcat then pounced on them with There's Too Many, badly mauling them.

The chariot came to the rescue, killing the cat and falling back onto the far left objective. Butmy wolpack, then did a 4+ charge over coprse pile, killing two trappers and hitting them with a second There's Too Many...

Which Aaron passed in style, I'm sad to say. He retreated the Trappers with Bad Val. On the right, his additional raiders unit helped him well outnumber my Spearwives, who secured the right objective and Trappers who hung back. Bad Tormund did charge and i sprung my trappers traps, killing 4 and the attacks were inneffectual

END OF TURN 2

AARON's FREEFOLK 1 VP (2 objectives)

MY FREEFOLK 4 VP's (1 unit, 2 objectives

TURN 3

IAaron had the numbers on the right, but on my left he was weak. So he charged the chariot into Varamyr, but only caused two wounds. This infuriated the Bear, who sav, which savaged the chariot off the swords for 4 wounds. Aaron didnt retreat.

The Trappers moved up to get in range of Bad Mance, allowing me to charge the chariots flank with Raiders, killing it and seizing the far left objective while Varamyr dropped back towards the left objective, reaching it with Val's help...

The FoB Raiders charged the spearwives but they held, in a position where the chariot couldn't flank

My spearwives and trappers combined to cut the FoB Raiders down to two men. And Bad Mance Trappers dropped mine down by three..

Seeing my flank look like folding, I regrouped and reformed out Mance for Tormund and beefed Mance's raiders in against Bad Tormund. Bad Mance failed his Counter strategy roll to prevent this...

I had Craster heal up two on the trappers too...

And they took the chariot charge well. Well, barely!!! The wolfpack hit Bad Tormund while the Bad trappers were healed from the bags

END OF TURN 3

AARON's FREEFOLK 3 VP's (3objectives)

MY FREEFOLK 8 VP's (1 unit, 7 objectives)

TURN 4

With first activation off the swords, I had Styr buffed Mance use overwhelming assault for re-rolls and critical blow to finish off Bad Tormund. This scored a point due to the wolfpack negating insignificant

The FoB finished off my spearwives, I flanked the Bad trappers with Mance, surging back onto the centre and Aaron's chariot finished of my Trappers. We activated out.

BOARD AT END OF TURN 4 (and Game)

AARON'S FREEFOLK 7 VP's (2 units, 5 objectives)

MY FREEFOLK 14 VP's (4 units, 10 objectives)

Well, I took risks in Turn 2 and they all paid off. I was really lucky to drop Varamyr in one hit and just got into a better position on the left early while holding on valiantly on my right. Aaron was a real pleasure to play against and we worked through the difficult chariot charge into my Trappers very well. I think with hindsight he blocked himself in on my right, when he needed the endless horde raiders on my left but that's easy to say with hindsight. I had no endless hordes, but held the centre with Tormund well, and the spearwives as usual, didn't let me down.

LGT SUMMARY

So with six wins from seven, I took 5th place overall in a 116-player event. I won't dwell on the mistake that helped allow that to happen, but I will ensure I don't ever make that kind of error again, as it definitely tarnished a fantastic, but still to my mind, somewhat lucky result for me. Just need to know your armies, and cards, it's the difference between the real top players and the occasional visitor like myself.

The other Wardens did better in Day two than Day one, with Ste going 5-2 after losing two games on Saturday. He came 13th and won Best Placed Starks. Greg placed 52nd with 4-3 for his Lannisters and Aden, who got a bye game 1 for the second year in a row went 3-4 with his Greyjoys.

The organization was superb, so massive thanks to ASOIF STATS GUYS and NRG: Daryl, Carlo, Mickey and Steve? (who helped in the background apparently). I found no issues with game time and thought everything ran smoothly. Daryl did a great job with NRG live streaming. Game 1 is worth watching just to see Aden's guest commentary, looking like something the Drowned God spat out. In fairness, he had a nasty bout of covid prior to the event and was still suffering from the aftereffects. Hope it runs again next year, as a community event it was simply outstanding. I also hope you enjoyed the reports, you've done well if you've gotten this far...

FULL RESULTS ON ASOIF STATS

PRIZE SUPPORT