So while up in Scotland with my colonial cousin (sorry, ex-colonial cousin), popped in for a ten player Highland gathering at Common Ground Games in Stirling.
I ran the same two lists as the previous event, simply as didn't have time in week between to sort out anything else and was on a bit of a high from Daventry...
Visited DOUNE CASTLE before event
For my first game, I elected to run my Mance Spearwife horde
Free Folk Trappers with Mance Rayder - King Beyond the Wall (C)
Spearwives with Jarl - Advance Raid Leader
Spearwives
Spearwives
Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader
Free Folk Raiders with Borroq - Boar Skinchanger
Borroq's Boar
Varamyr Sixskins - Master Skinchanger
NCU's
Craster & Lady Val
GAME 1
Alan "SmokesCement" L
HOUSE BOLTON
A Game of Thrones
Not played Alan before, but he's a cheery big fella and with it being a chilled event,
we had a cracking game. Having been playing Boltons myself, I knew their weaknesses.
A Game of Thrones would be a tough ask for him given my numbers.
Lysene Sellswords with Ramsay Snow (C) & Reek
Bastard's Girls & Ben Bones - Kennelmaster
Dreadfort Archers with Sour Alyn - Bastard's Boy
Flayed Men
Tybald , Jeyne Poole & Walder Frey
TERRAIN: Weirwood, Corpse Pile, Weirwood, Forest
BOLTONS: Bastard Girls, Lysene Pirates, Flayed Men, Dreadfort Archers
FREEFOLK: Varamyr (off to the left), Spearwives, Raiders, Trappers, Boar, Borroq's Raiders, Spearwives (Jarl's Spearwives outflank)
My starting hand was interesting and I opted to go first for my Jarl to arrive Turn 2
TURN 1
I took the letters, Alan the Horses to advance the Flayed Men, then I used Val on Swords to move my left spearwives. Crown attack on my right side spearwives...
passed with room to spare...
BOARD END OF TURN 1
I stayed out of range of the Archers and threw my forces out in a semi-circle, looking to push for objective while holding off the Boltons
TURN 2
I brough my spearwives on far left to threaten the objective and Boltons Dogs there. Alan took the swords, shooting and charging with the Bastard girls, dropping me down to three raiders (who had Endless horde placed on them)
I used Crasters on Horses to swap out for healing two and also Regroup and Reform to heal up the Raiders.
Alan had used a Tybald token on Letters, so took that making my Raiders vulnerable
He then activated the bastard Girls
but rolled poorly, and they only took two wounds, passing their panic
I activated the Spearwives, who dropped one with a throwing spear before charging in
With the Raid leader engaging too, all eight attacks struck home.
This cut them down to four men. Alan had the Lysene advance onto the centre
Alan healed up with the bags too after I'd taken the right objective
My Raiders attacked the Bastard girls, scoring five hits
This dropped them down to three men, before I launched an Overwhelming assault with my Trappers...
This wiped out the Bolton unit, and my Trappers surged forth and out of the Lysene arc. I then consolidated my positions on objectives as the Boltons finished activations
I had some reduced ranks but was in a good position.
But in order to further secure, I moved up Borroq's raiders to tempt the Flayed Men while his Board charged the Lysene to keep them occupied and deny them the objective.
Board End of Turn 2
END OF TURN 2
FREEFOLK 4 VP's (1 unit, 3 objectives)
BOLTONS 0 VP
TURN 3
I played Endless Horde on my Raiders, or rather tried to but it was cancelled with A Flayed Men card
Activating first due to Walder on the crown one per game, Alan I took the swords and shot my boar down. I then played Co-ordination to have the Trappers shoot and then charge the Lysene pirates
I passed the Horrific Visage well, but had a panic token
So I passed it better...
However, I didnt roll well and Alan healed my damage from bags. I in turn charged the Flayed Men to deny them a charge on me while Alan healed a bit more from tokens
The Lysene retreated out of melee with the horses but when charging off the corpse plie later rolled really poorly against my Raiders, who retreated away. The Flayed men managed to wipe out Borroqs Raiders,
END OF TURN 3
FREEFOLK 8 VP's (1 unit, 7 objectives)
BOLTONS 1 VP (1 unit)
TURN 4
Jeyne Poole defected, giving Alan first turn
Using the swords the Dreadfort Archers shot up my Trappers
I healed the Trappers, before the Lysene charged my Spearwives cutting them down to two
I healed up the spearwives with regroup and reform, leaving the Raiders on one wound
My Trappers shot up the Dreadfort archers and survived a charge by the Flayed Men. This allowed my right side spearwives to advance up from Diversion tactics. The Dreadfort Archers finished off my Trappers. My spearwives rear ended the Dreadfort Archers leaving two alive. They retreated using the Horses, but my right side spearwives charged in and finished them off.
Board End of Turn 4
END OF TURN 4 (& Game)
FREEFOLK 11 VP's (2 units, 9 objectives)
BOLTONS 2 VP's (2 units)
This was always going to be a difficult scenario for four Bolton units v eight Freefolk, especially given my healing ability. But Alan did control the tactics board well, with 3 first turns in a row and many a Freefolk unit did drop to single or a few figures. A few well timed panic passes bailed me out, but the horde was just too great.
GAME 2
Matthew "Lloydinspace" Lloyd
HOUSE BARATHEON
A Dance with Dragons
I'd played Matt before down at one of the Leodis events back in 2022, and he's not a fan of photo's but he was running Baratheons again and a rather heavy Roose led panic list at that. Not ideal for my untrained masses, as I ran Mance again.
R'hllor Queen's Men with Roose Bolton - The Leech Lord (C)
Baratheon Sentinels
R'hllor Lightbringers with Davos Seaworth - Onion Knight
House Bolton Flayed Men
NCU's
Axell Florent, Jaqen H'ghar & Melisandre
TERRAIN: We randomised this time, getting a corpse pile, palisade, bog and hedge
BARATHEONS: Queens Men, Lightbringers, Sentinels, Flayed Men
FREEFOLK: Boar, Barroq's Raiders, Spearwives, Mance's Trappers, Varamyr,
Raiders, Spearwives (Jarl's Wives in outflank)
TURN 1
I went first to allow Spearwives on second turn. I took the Letters, Mat the Horses, I swapped swords for a move, Matt removed the weakened by taking bags.
Matt went for Mel bomb on crown but then passed as I used Wildling Diplomacy
BOARD END OF TURN 1
I swung around on my left, while the Sentinels and Flayed Men swapped positions. Mance and his Trappers grabbed the centre objective.
TURN 2
I brought the Spearwives over on the left again, and also played Predictable Maneuvers to deny the Lightbringers an action.
But that didn't help much as I just got Mel bombed and Mance dropped the centre objective. I took the Swords to shift up spearwives on the left and regrouped and reformed to help Mance.
Spearwives close in.
Mel Bomb hurts near a corpse pile
The Flayed Men plod through the bog and managed two hits!!!
But the panic did the damage!!! I countered with Surrounded and Exposed as well as a flank spearwife charge...
Mance stole the objective back!!! But then Sentinel triggered and I got my spearwvies flanked!!!
Supply Aid from the Lightbringers revived the Flayed Men and they also shot Mance and his Trappers down, giving the Flayed Men the objective.
Mance was gone and the Spearwives were hurting!!!
So the Raider charged, the Raid Leader allowing for all seven hits and retrieving the objective again...
Having finished his activations, my Spearwives caused an impressive three wounds with the javelins as Matt failed all three saves, two more dying in melee.
Tactics board at End of Turn 2
END OF TURN 2
FREEFOLK 2 VP's (2objectives)
BARATHEONS 1 VP (1 unit)
Varamyr had swung out right to threaten the objective but my units were engaged against better quality troops and being outfought, out shot and out-attritioned. I also was engaging one on one!!!
BOARD END OF TURN 2
TURN 3
I took the Swords with Val
after regrouping and reforming spearwives. They then attacked the flank of the Flayed Men
Eight dice on three's; and they didn't land well
Jaqen Mel bombed my spearwives engaging the Queens Men and then Roose Spread fear to the three remainign spearwives near the palisade, destroying them and then healed the Flayed Men
The Queens Men also healed with Fear Keeps a Man alive
I attacked again with the Spearwives, but Flayed Men were not going down.
The Sentinels pounded my Spearwives in the flank, dropping six
My Raiders retreated away from melee with the Flayed Men thanks to Craster on the horses, trying desperately to hold onto the objective. But I only rolled a one so didnt get far.
Not good!!!
And then the Lightbringers showered me with fiery death, so I dropped the token anyway!!!
And then Fire Arrows jumped to the sole Spearwife
And she died thanks to intimidating presence!!!
The only way to stop the Flayed Men crushing me was to charge the Boar in after Borroq's unit moved a wee bit. I did drop them Flayed Men a rank
Matt rolled well when he attacked back, fortunately not on the charge, and finished off the boar and surging forth to pick up the objective.
My three Raiders charged in but they bounced off the armoured Boltons...
And that attack allowed the Sentinels to turn and face Varamyr, sitting on the objective on the right. Meanwhile, the Queens Men with Roose belted six wounds off of the eight spearwives.
And Roose's Intimidating presence saw them off, so they surged forth
Meanwhile, Varamyr failed all four hits from the four Sentinel attacks (all three successes re-rolled with vulnerable)
END OF TURN 3
This was start turn 3 for context: 2 VP's to 1 VP
BARATHEONS 7 VP's (5 units, 2 objectives)
FREEFOLK 3 VP's (3 units)
BOARD END OF TURN 3
TURN 4
Taking the Swords, the Flayed Men finished off my Raiders. Who came back due to Endless Horde
The Sentinels stayed put as we played out the tactics board
I moved the Raiders up with Val
And successfully charged note sure I did any wounds but, albeit temporarily, I took the objective
As I was shot down at first...
And then ridden down. I did manage to keep Borroq's Raiders alive though, despite surrendering the objective
END OF TURN 4 (& GAME)
BARATHEONS 12 VP's (7 Units, 5 objectives)
FREEFOLK 3VP's ( 3 objectives)
Matt absolutely battered me. Losing Mance in Turn 2 accelerated it I think, but yeah, my army simply exploded and Matt played a blinder. he hammered me and even when I countered, he'd counter my counter. Flayed Men never work that well for me. Intimidating Presence was my bane in that game, as was my inability to outnumber (that palisade Matt placed restricting my assault in turn 2). But a well deserved win again for Matt against me...
GAME 3
Tony "tonygarry" Garry
STARKS
HONED & READY
I'd face Tony at the Northern GT earlier this year, for a Bolton v Bolton clash I came out on top of. But this time he was rocking up some Bear Island and Umber Starks, so no subtlety coming up. At least with Honed and Ready I could try and play the objectives. I decided Mance had let me down and figured Styr's should step up, as his cards could be handy v lightly armoured Starks. As could the Polar bears...
Tony's list was nicely themed for the Starks: simply aggressive
House Mormont She-Bears with Maege Mormont - Lady of Bear Island (C)
House Mormont She-Bears with Mormont Veteran
Umber Ravagers
House Umber Greataxes with Bronn - The Sellsword
NCU's
Arya Stark, Catelyn Stark & Sansa Stark
My Styr list was still activation heavy, as below
Followers of Bone with Styr - Magnar Of Thenn (C)
Spearwives
Spearwives
Frozen Shore Bear Riders
Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader
Free Folk Raiders with Borroq - Boar Skinchanger
Borroq's Boar
NCU's
Craster & Lady Val
TERRAIN: Rolling random again, we ended up with a wall, two corpse piles & Weirwood
STARKS: Greataxes, Ravagers, Maege's She-Bears, She-Bears
FREEFOLK: Boar, Borroq's Raiders, Spearwives, Styr's Followers of Bone,
Bear Riders, Raiders, Spearwives
TURN 1
Third time in a row, I got to choose 1st or 2nd. I went first and took the Letters,
Tony took Horses, I took Swords but drew a card, Tony took the other spaces
BOARD END OF TURN 1
I held back a bit on the right as the She-Bears sped right up and at me. I moved up a tad more on the left though, where I had greater numbers
TURN 2
The She-Bears on my right activated and barrelled into my Raiders
After War Cry, I was panicked and vulnerable and the result wasn't a surprise
Nine dead Wildlings...
But I did get to play Diversion Tactics, then take the swords to shift my spearwives into the flank before javelin throws dropped three and chargingin hard. My Raiders even passed their panic, so stayed in the fight and gave me 3+ in melee and 8 dice, with critical blow and sundering with Overwhelming assault
Maege was incensed at seeing her sisters cutdown, so charge din and finished off my Raid Leaders unit
But that in turn allowed my Bear Riders to steam in and wipe out the Veteran's She-Bears
Meanwhile, on the tactics board Tony was healing and moving, while I took Letters. Last one was a crown attack.
The Followers of Bone near the corpse pile just had lunch, nibbling on the dead
and fortifying their resolve...
The Greataxes charged in, losing men to Hidden traps and Horrific visage, before cutting down four on Styr's unit before Thenn Defiance killed more Umbers...
Borroq's Raider then flanked them but corpse pile reduce the damage
I did drop two but after the Boar took the far left, I was flanked by the Umber Ravagers
The board centre
I lost nine Raiders to the Umber charge and failed panic and gave the Umber's a bit of their own medicine playing Final Strike
doing six wounds all told due to -1 save as in Styr's range
END OF TURN 2
FREEFOLK 4 VP's (1 unit, 3 objectives)
Starks 1 VP (1 unit)
I lost a rank from each spearwife unit on the flanks from the wall, and the boar took a wound too.
BOARD END OF TURN 2
TURN 3
I used Crasters once per game to heal two Raiders and took the Swords with Val to allow for 5 flank attacks on the Greataxes
I got four hits...
which was enough to kill the Greataxes. Tony then used assault orders to have the Ravagers finish off Borroq's unit, before getting hit with another Final Strike dropping them to one wound
I tried crown zap on the Umber Ravagers, but it failed and they healed up from the bags
Using the horses, Maege Mormont's She-Bears dropped back onto the far right but was unactivated They were three ladies down having use Support of Bear Island to heal the Ravagers.
I could wait the Ravagers activation, so activated the Polar Bear Riders
I didn't want Maege to attack the Spearwives on the right, so I launched spears and then charged in. Amazingly, I caused six wounds with the attacks and then Tony managed to roll snake eyes and a three on the D3. Maege and her She Bears died, and I surged up onto the objective.
The Ravager went and charged the Boar, easily killing it so I moved up onto the centre with Styr.
The Ravagers survived the shots from the wall with one wound remaining...
END OF TURN 3 (and Game)
FREEFOLK 10 VP's (3 units, 7 objectives)
STARKS 3 VP's ( 1 unit, 1 objective)
Well, Tony really needs new dice. Some of his attack rolls were shocking, and his morale dice were even worse. With so many objectives to play for, I was never gonna fight fair and he had to come at me but I was very lucky with my cards, particularly final strike depleting his Ravagers and that Diversion tactics early on to smack the She Bears in the flank. Twice now I've just been luckier than Tony...
So a big thank you for all the guys that attended, and Stephen/Doug for organising it at short notice. Matt was the overall winner, with three crushing victories as the Red Prisstess wreaked havoc...
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Fire and Dice Northern Brawl
Saturday 24th August
16 players
Fire and Dice Games, Borough Road, Middlesbrough, UK
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WARDENS OF THE SOUTH PRESENT
SOUTHERN SUMMER SCRAP
Sat 31st AUGUST, 24 Players
at ENTOYMENT WARGAMING & HOBBY CENTRE,
POOLE, DORSET
________________________________________________________________
"I Pledge My Sword"
Battlefield Hobbies, South March, Daventry, UK
Starts: Sat Aug 31 2024 - 09:00:00 GMT+01
Ends: Sat Aug 31 2024 - 17:00:00 GMT+01
Points Limit: 50 Points
Ticket Info and Sign Up below
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8th September
Clash in the Crownlands
Bad Moon Cafe in London
12 player event
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YECATS MINIATURES PRESENTS
SATURDAY 28th & SUNDAY 29th September
THE LONDON GRAND TOURNAMENT
(AWESOME EVENT, IF YOU CAN GO, GO. SADLY I CANNOT)
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"Pit Fights at the Arena"
Four game, one day tournament
Saturday 26th October 2024
The Arena, 4 Main St,
Falkirk FK2 0JT
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Battle of the 3 Swords (Christmas is Coming)
SATURDAY 23rd NOVEMBER
30 players
(Last few tickets)
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"THE OLD GODS & THE NEW"
LEODIS GAMES LEEDS 24th NOVEMBER 2025
(I'll be there with other Wardens of the North-West)
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"Honour, not Honours"
RIBBLE RUMBLE 2024
16... NO, 24 PLAYER TWO DAY EVENT
(So no longer Sold Out)
Reserve List if all 24 sell (20 gone)
30th NOV/1st DEC
ELEMENT GAMES, STOCKPORT
(I'll be there with other Wardens of the North-West)
"Honour, not honours" is Sponsored by
&
(for Gaming mats, 2D Terrain and tactics board mats)
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2025
"Blood Over Highgarden" - Become "Warden of Kent"
YECATS MINIATURES
SATURDAY JANUARY 18th 2025
RAGNAROK HOBBIES
2nd Floor, 33 High St, Gillingham ME7 1BQ
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8th & 9th February 2025
50 player event
Vlad's Emporium
278 St. Vincent Street,
Glasgow,
G2 5RL,
Scotland
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March 1st/2nd 2025
Pontnewynydd, Pontypool, UK
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(I'll be there with other Wardens of the North-West)
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4 weeks later, March 29th/30th 2025
and needing no introduction...
ASOIF STATS INVITATIONAL
(I'll be there with other Wardens of the North-West)
