Greg "Greggers" decided to run a beginner friendly event at Justplay just before New Year, and managed to muster a very respectable 14 sign ups from around Liverpool, with a few Bury lads too, Sunday 8th January on . Having spent most of the festive period getting paint on my Watch, I ran a double Jon Snow list, one for offense and one for defence.
OFFENSIVE LIST
• Veterans of the Watch with Jon Snow - 998th Lord Commander • Conscripts • Sworn Brothers • Ranger Hunters with Cotter Pyke - Ironborn Brother NCU's Bowen Marsh, Aemon & Othell Yarwyck
DEFENSIVE LIST
• Sworn Brothers with Jon Snow - 998th Lord Commander (C) • Builder Scorpion Crew with Scorpion Modifications - Othell Yarwyck • Shadow Tower Spearmen with Othell Yarwyck - Spotter • Conscripts with Watch Recruiter NCU's
Bowen Marsh, Aemon & Donal Noye
GAME 1
Sophie's (Soph4e) Starks in Game of Thrones
• House Mormont She-Bears with Greatjon Umber - Lord of Last Hearth (C)
• House Tully Sworn Shields with Mormont Veteran
• Stark Bowmen with Crannogman Warden
• House Tully Cavaliers
Non Combat Units
Sansa Stark,Catelyn Stark & Lyanna Mormont
Sophie and I had played previously in Wardens league and had an all cavalry second list but I felt it would be a good idea to not play defensive in this scenario so elected to go with the offensive list. I won the dice and let Sophie choose the side.
SET UP: Two stakes, corpse pile and Weirwood`(was pleased to dig out the 3D terrain again)
Stark Deployment (L to R): Tully Cav, She Bears, Sworn Shields, Bowmen
NW Deployment: Sworn Brothers, Conscripts, Ranger Hunters, Veterans
I had deployed centrally, then left as the Bowmen were on my right and felt I'd avoid that side as they would rain death from a distance. I elected to go second in Turn 1 as my card hand was 2 Stand United Brother sand Take the Black (lots of healing).
Sophie took the horses first off to move up the bowmen, I took letters and got For The Watch, which went down on Cotter Pyke's Ranger's later this turn. I lost a few Conscripts to the crown panic and took the bags for sundering attacks on the Bowmen, who lost 3 (I thought their armour was 5+). I took the swords to get another card from Bowen as Sophie had started moving units
Sophie had marched up and taken the far right objective with Bowmen, the Sworn Shields were swinging in centrally, GJ Umber and his She Bears were within 12" of the Rangers (who I had marched up). The Tully Cavaliers were hanging out on my left, but my Sworn Brothers had marched up to support the Rangers while Jon repositioned behind with his Veterans and the Conscripts swung out to march onto the left objective in Turn 2.
TURN 2
Using Bowen on the Horses, I charged the Rangers into the She-Bears
I took 2 wounds on the way in from Cotter's "Reckless Heroism"
I scored 7 hits and the She-Bears were also Vulnerable and panicked due to the Sword in the Darkness
Five were killed but they passed their panic. I then retreated away into their flank and shot them up
Dropping the unit to the Great Jon alone
I was expecting the Tully's to smack me in the rear but Sophie took the swords, played Assault Order and sent the mad Umber into me instead, killing 8 Rangers..
I then played Take the Black to heal up and also enlist the Great Jon but Sophie played Last Stand (fortunately rolling poorly)and allowing me to survive.
I surged forth back towards my lines and into range of other Watch units, and at start of Sophie's turn played Stand United Brothers to heal up another 4 Rangers.
Sophie didn't send the Tully Cavaliers in straight away, taking the letters I think with Lyanna to influence the Cavaliers, so I used Conscripts order to fully heal the Rangers while marching Jon's veteran onto the Centre (just out of long range of the bowmen and their Crannogman warden). The Tully Sworn shields charged in but managed 2 hits due to the disrupt and I saved both.
I had the conscripts take the left objectives, hoping to bait the Tully Cavaliers with an easy kill (over stakes) but Sophie didn't fall for it
The Cavaliers stormed into the Rangers doing 10 hits with critical blow from Lyanna's influence
Rather disgustingly, using the Shield of the Realms of Men, I managed to save six of the hits on 6+'s
I healed the 4 wounds with Stand United Brothers, which was fortuitous as Sophie played Assault order to attack again, killing 7. I used the crown to drop 3 Tully Sworn shields
END OF TURN 2
NIGHTS WATCH 3 VP's (1 unit, 2 objectives)
STARKS 1 VP (1 unit)
(Board at End of TURN 2)
TURN 3
Catelyn took the swords, attacking the Rangers. I survived and healed six off Aemon on the bags. Lyanna took the letters and attacked using assault orders. I survived, healed off Conscripts order and used Othell to shoot with vicious into the Tully Cavaliers.
Bad dice saw 2 horses drop with a failed panic. But they finally activated and attacked scoring 5 hits
Sophie thought she'd finally done it when I failed to make a save, then remembered I blocked one with Shields of the realm of Men. Phew!!!
I took the horses to move the Sworn brothers up into the Tully Cav's flank and off the coprse pile
who then charged.
All seven hit, with sundering and flank, and vulnerable as I'd used their order...
The Cavaliers died but were determined to take out the Rangers so made a valiant Last Stand attack
They managed 3 hits, and again, I had to apologise for my dice as I passed two of the three and auto-blocked the other. Cotter would die!!!
Truly epic card!!!
The Sworn Brothers surged forth ready to help the veterans, while Cotter pivoted to be able to march onto the far left objective
Leaving the objective to shoot the Veterans, the bowmen did kill 4 but also killed 3 Tully Sworn shields from a failed panic. The also lost two from the Veterans attack before hand. The bowmen shifted back to the objective with swift reposition.
END OF TURN 3
NIGHTS WATCH 7VP's (2 units, 5 objectives)
STARKS 2 VP's (2 objectives)
TURN 4 saw me take the crown to avoid death by panic on the Conscripts, and try and kill the Sworn Shields but they wouldn't break. Nothing else changed and the objectives remained the same.
END OF TURN 4 (& GAME)
NIGHTS WATCH 10 VP's (2 units, 8 objectives)
STARKS (3 objectives)
Great game but I really lucked out with the healing cards to start and some frankly amazing dice rolls for those Rangers (they should have died several times over). It was an aggressive move to send Cotter up there but it worked in killing the She Bears and then pinning the Cavaliers (a bonus, as I'd expected them to die ). I think poor deployment of the bowmen from Sophie help, as with the bowmen out of the game effectively on the flank, the Veterans easily held the centre from the Sworn Shields (who needed 5's to hit).
Some painted armies
(Jamie Scott's Baratheon's - sorry, my camera doesn't do them justice)
James Durr's Greyjoy's
Elliott Coulbeck's Nights Watch
GAME 2
A FEAST FOR CROWS
GREG "GREGGERS" LANNISTERS
Greg had Knight of Casterly Rock and The Mountain that Rides in both lists. so I decided I'd try out my Defensive list, as much just to try out the Scorpion.
Red Cloaks with Kevan Lannister - Protector of the Realm (C)
Lannister Crossbowmen with Bronn - The Sellsword
House Bolton Flayed Men with Glory Seeker
Gregor Clegane - The Mountain That Rides
NCU's
Tywin Lannister & Cersei Lannister & Petyr Baelish
SET UP & DEPLOYEMNT: Stakes, Weirwood, Stakes and bog
Lannisters (L to R): Mountain, Flayed Men, Crossbowmen and Red Cloaks
Nights Watch: Sworn Brothers with Jon, Conscripts just behind, Scorpion and Shadow Tower Spearmen
TURN 1
Not much happened of excitement bar a long range Scorpion attack on the Mountain
So close to dropping the Beast!!! Still two wounds was a good start.
Greg closed up aggressively and the Red Cloaks dropped a rank off the Spearmen with their Lannister Justice and "Hear me Roar" card...
TURN 2
Greg took bags with Baelish and attacked the spearmen, but I then healed up the one lost wound plus another with Aemon on the swords, firing the Scorpion at the Mountain. But I missed
I used the Conscripts to heal up the Shadow Tower Spearmen, and used "The Fire that Burns against the Cold" to avoid more panic losses.
I charged into the Flayed Men with Jon and his Sworn Brothers, but only after I failed the Subjugation of power card Greg played. Accordingly, I did nothing much to them!!!Tywin took the horses to retreat away from the Sworn Brothers (ready to charge)
Which they then did.
But they were weakened and I healed up quickly enough. I then tried to get the Conscripts in to assist...
But despite the re-roll from For the Watch, I failed to roll a 4+
Meantime, Kevan's Red Cloaks charged in off claiming the crown, took no wounds from my spearmen but still hit me with Lannister supremacy and dropped me down.
Spending a Donal Noye token to avoid the vulnerable re-roll and have a 3+ save was not an overwhelming success. The Red Cloaks took the objective from me.
END OF TURN 2
LANNISTERS 1 VP (1 objective)
NIGHTS WATCH 0 VP's
TURN 3
I took the swords with Bowen
and battered the Flayed Men of Casterley Rock.
The failed panic was also nice...
The Spearmen died to the Red Cloaks, but I wiped out the Flayed Men next activation
And a 4+ charge was finally made into the Mountain. But with being weakened I did one hit which was saved.
I was nicely poised to charge off the horses, but Greg was aware of it and took it to move the Red Cloaks who panic checked the Scorpion.
And as the crossbowmen dropped a few Sworn brothers, Oh how Greg laughed at my panic roll as the Weirwood meant I would pass on a 4+
On a positive note, the Scorpion scored a hit on the Mountain causing 2 wounds, and then with the panic I'd put on him earlier, died to failing the panic check!!! (Greg had healed the earlier two wounds from the Glory seeker in the Flayed men) I lost Conscripts to it though, as they failed the panic
END OF TURN 3
LANNISTERS 3 VPs (1 unit, 2 objectives)
NIGHTS WATCH 2 VP's (2 units)
(Tactics Board at End of Turn 3)
Alas, in the heat of battle I didn't take any pictures for Turn 4 or 5 other than the end below.
But to summarise: Greg took Crown and Hear me Roared the Conscripts killing them. I took the swords charge them through the stakes (as the 2" shift put me in his front arc from) The Crossbows survived and retreated away to take the corpse pile my Conscripts made using the Horses. I charged again, barely surviving the stakes with Jon alone but couldn't kill the Crossbows, leaving Bronn alone. I was then lannister Justiced to death by the Red Cloaks. But did manage to kill Bronn with the Scorpion. The game ended due to time at end of turn 5
END OF TURN 5 (and Game)
LANNISTERS 8 VP's (3 Units, 5 objectives)
NIGHTS WATCH 3 VP's (3 Units)
A really close game, despite the score line. Sure the Shadow Tower Spearmen crumpled too easily, but Greg played the Lannister Justice and morale very well. Jon and his Sworn Brothers did well, and were unlucky not to wipe out the Crossbowmen but Greg played well defensively. The Scorpion was awesome, keep forgetting it can do long range shots needing 6's. A well deserved win for Greg
GAME 3
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
ALEX (Avandijk) LANNISTERS
I decided I'd just been unlucky with my Shadow tower Spearmen andalso couldnt really be bothered sorting
out the units and cards, so ran my defensive list.
Alex went with a meaty Clegane list so figured he'd be aggressive. I was happy to have an NCU advantage
Alex's Lannisters were as below:
Casterly Rock Honor Guard with Gregor Clegane - The Mountain (C)
Knights of Casterly Rock with Clegane Butcher
House Clegane Mountain's Men with Mandon Moore - Kingsguard
Lannister Guardsmen with Sandor Clegane - The Hound
NCU's
• Cersei Lannister ( 4 )
• Joffrey Baratheon ( 5 )
Alex got fed up waiting for me to get a good picture and decided to look at his cards...
SET UP & DEPLOYMENT: Palisades, corpse pile, stakes and Weirwood. I won the roll off and opted to take this side, to concentrate my forces on my right
Lannisters (L to R): Guardsmen, Knights of Casterley Rock, Honour Guard, Mountains Men
Nights Watch: Sworn Brothers, Conscripts, Scorpion, Shadow Tower Spearmen
TURN 1
Alex swung out to my left with his cavalry, as I concentrated on the centre and my right. Three mountain men were lost to a crown panic. I missed with the Scorpion, after moving it up with the horses.
TURN 2
Alex went first this turn and used Joffrey to take the horses and brought his Knights around to face my Sworn brothers front. I took the letters for some additional cards but to weaken the Knights
Alex then charged the Knights in, the weakened token helping to reduce the damage to 3 brothers
I then hit back from the swords with 8 attacks, all hitting
Alex healed up from the bags
The Mountains Men charged the Spearmen, and lost two ranks to a combination of spears and a bad panic fail
The Mountain had moved up aggressively but I ignored him as the Sworn Brothers hacked the Knights down to a single rank, and they lost another two wounds to the Scorpion which was in 12" and with vicious in the flank and corpse pile lost two more wounds to the panic.
I played for the Watch on the Conscripts for a charge re-roll, but wasnt sure which way to go. 4+ to the Knights brought back bad memories of the last game, or 6+ to the Mountains Men made it easier.
The got the charge roll and smashed into the Knight who died.
I surged forth backwards, and the Brothers faced Gregor
END OF TURN 2
LANNISTERS 2 VPs (2 objectives)
NIGHTS WATCH 2 VPs (1 unit, 1 objective)
I used Bowen on the Swords but spent a token of Donal to allow my spearmen re-rolls
7 hits was the result on a panicked and vulnerable Mountains Men from The Sword in the Darkness
They died to a man
Or rather, joined the watch by Taking the Black
The Mountain failed a 4+ charge into the Sworn Brothers, and lost a man to panic. The Spearmen activated and destroyed the stakes. The Scorpion killed a man, and another 2 from panic.
The Conscripts with the Watch recruiter charged the flank...
Rolling quite well and killing another rank...
Before Jon and his Sundering Sworn Brothers delivered the coup de grace...
END OF TURN 3
LANNISTER 3 VP's (3objectives)
NIGHTS WATCH 6 VP's (3 units, 3 objectives)
TURN 4
Really, the game was over now as Sandor and his Guardsmen backed away from the oncoming Night. Cersei did do a lot of wounds from crown on the conscripts.
But Aemon on the bags healed that all up. Alex did deny me the horses to chase his men down quicker
Only my Conscript weren't slowed so off they went, eager to recruit...
END OF TURN 4
LANNISTER 4 VP's (4 objectives)
NIGHTS WATCH 8 VP's (3 units, 5 objectives)
TURN 5
The Conscripts made it into combat, but ended up suffering to Lannister supremacy for their troubles, and couldn't wrestle the objective from the Guardsmen
END OF TURN 5 (& Game)
LANNISTERS 5 VPs (5 objectives)
NIGHTS WATCH 10 VP's (3 units, 7 objectives)
Well, the spearmen finally showed up and put in a decent shift. It was really all about Alex's poor dice, and my ability to take his units piecemeal. Conscripts were a great supporting melee unit with the recruiter's "Incite" order working well. The Scorpion did ok, the odd wound from infantry was nice but it set the Knights up for a quick demise. As with the Bowmen in game one, the Guardsmen sitting out on an objective let me dominate the centre. As Alex says, he needs some Red Cloaks!!!
Prizes
OVERALL WINNER: COLIN "KOLCO" DEANE
Great inaugural event put on by Greg at Justplay. Previous ones were store run, but they wanted our group to organise them and Greg ably stepped up and organised it in a few weeks. there are plans to run a one day event in early March, with room for potentially 24-32 players. Good turnout with a lot of Liverpool locals we hadn't met or played before out, as well as a few from the Far East (of Lancashire). Fun was had by all.
A few special mentions:
Ste, who lost by recklessly charging Sworn Bros with Drogo when he should've retreated away turn 6.
Mr Ray for coming second, showing that on home ground he always does really well.
Sophie, for most Sporting opponnent.
Jamie Scotts best painted (Renly Baratheons were quality)
Greg again for the Haribo's
Another Blog report from Elliott Coulbeck here: Elothsendeavours
Final Standings and results NORTH WEST CIVIL WAR
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