Andy Robinson brought an elite Stark/Tully force to face off against Mance's Free Folk horde for our Thursday night game down at Justplay Games in Liverpool. https://justplaygames.uk/
Andrew has only played a few games of A Song on Ice and Fire, but with all the new changes, I hadn't swotted up on Starks so was kind of blind going in to what I would be up against. We played A Game of Thrones...
Andrew's Stark force had 6 activations, but tough units with nasty attachments, as below:
Stark Outriders with Brynden Tully (C)
Tully Sworn Shields with Syrio Forel attachment
Stark Longbowmen with Crannogman Warden attachment
Bloody Mummer Skirmishers with Vargo Hoat attachment
NCU's: Arya and Howland Reed
Oh, and Haqen Jaqar, Mysterious Prisoner in one of my Raider units...
My Freefolk list was far more quantity than quality, having dropped my Thenns and 2 pt attachments from previous weeks.
Spearwives with Mance Rayder (C)
Cave Dweller Savages
Mammoth
Free Folk Trappers
Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader
Free Folk Raiders with Raid Leader
Free Folk Raiders with Jarl Advanced Leader
NCU's Craster & Ygritte
9 Activations, plus potential 2 free units with Endless Horde... Almost 2 to 1...
Starks Deployed my left to right with Mummers, Tullys, Bowmen and Outriders, with Corpse pile (mammoth) on my Stark right and Weirwood on their left.
NCU's
And Jaqen in my right side raiders...
Obviously, Andy planned to hit them hard with outriders, allowing Jaqen to "die" and assassinate Mance!!! Well nasty...
TURN 1
Not a lot happened... The Starks advanced aggressively, crown panicking Jaqens Raiders for 2 wounds. My Freefolk generally advanced, but Jaqens raiders held back and moved closer to Mance. The mammoth advanced...
And got shot by the bowmen thanks to Overwatch. That was a new one on me. Still, its big, hairy and tough...
TURN 2
Having effectively lost my raiders with Jaqen, I played an early Endless horde to beef up my right...
Besides, my Mammoth was the distraction... On the left in turn 1, mummers repositioned to avoid corpse pile and the left FF raiders and Cave Dwellers marched right up to the left objective, while the trappers screened a bit with the palisade supporting the spearwives. The archers activated first and shot the Mammoth but I saved all the shots that hit...
Given the new fangled Crannog attachment, I decided to close range as the big beast charged, taking a wound on way in...
But passing its panic check...
I scored 5 hits in the charge...
But Andy managed 3 saves on 5+
Unsurprisingly, the Outriders took the charge...
Causing 4 wounds...
Sadly, I erred and took 2 wounds from a panic check rather than letting the beastie trample. Wholly unintentional and it didnt detract from game. Only realised after the game!!! I used diversion tactics to advance up the spearwives...
Then had Craster take the swords to allow them to throw their spears...
And then charge home...
Elsewhere at Just Play, we had a good showing with 9 player and one no show, with Paul's Greyjoys raiding the Lions lands and Victarion trying to cut the head off the lannister family as he face Andy Southern's Tywin led force...
Ste's Targaryen's also faced Lannisters, with Carlo returning to Liverpool to practice his accent our la...
Meanwhile, while my back was turned (and having cut the longbowmen down to a single rank, Andy Robinson was manouvering Mummers to take on my left flank...
Arno's Lannisters were out facing some R'hllor Baratheons, with Kings Men, Queens Men, Faithful and Lightbringers all out on show...
Forgot I'd already said, Greyjoys v lannisters....
The centre left and left. Tully Shields had ignored my Spearwives flank and marched onto the centre objective after I had taken left with raiders. (ignore the old card)
The Mummers charged in using a tactics card
The result was a weakened Savages unit and 5 dead but passed my morale despite Hoat's vicious attribute...
As Howland reed healed the bowmen with the bags, he also influenced the Spearwives to give them a -1 to hit. Alas, he needn't have bothered as my dice fluffed when they finally activated
the Cave Dwellers hit back and dropped half the Mummers, but also took hits from their misses, dropping them to four models...
End of Turn 2 (Howland didn't take bags, Arya did) Howland didn't take a space due to Wildling Diplomacy.
END OF TURN 2
STARKS 3 VP's (Brynden's unit killing mammoth scored 2, plus centre objective)
FREEFOLK 1 VP (left objective)
TURN 3
This was the board at start of Turn 3. Lots of choices to be made.
Howland took the swords and influenced the Spearwives...
Allowing the reduced Mummers to wipe out the Cave Dwellers...
I decided to concentrate on my right, getting a charge into the Outriders and scoring four hits
I also took the Horses with Ygritte to bring on the Cave Dweller Savages...
The Mummer hit the Raiders hard but they didnt get wiped out...
The Tully's also charged off the objective, but rolled poorly and failed to wipe out the Trappers
The Cave Dwellers activated, charged into the Mummers flank, wiping them out...
The Outriders did a ride-by attack but the Raiders didnt suffer too badly...
The bowmen retreated but rolled low and the Spearwives launched spears (despite howland's negative, hitting 3 times)
But they passed their morale after saving two, then shot as I charged dropping 3 wives. But they lost 4, leaving to holding on...
Craster had taken the crown but used his healing, also healing two once per game. I also used Regroup and reform to heal up trappers from Cave dwellers
Having finished off the Mummers, the Cave Dwellers moved into position for next turn, the Trappers and Raider with Jaqen also ganged up on the Tully shields, killing a whole one thanks to Syrio and shieldwall...
It's fair to say, the game was fairly fluid at this point, but I was happy to trade units 2 for 1...
END of TURN 3
FREEFOLK 4 VPs 3 from objectives, 1 for Mummers killed
STARKS 4 VP's 1 from objectives.3 from killing 2 units
TURN 4
I took the swords with Ygritte, influencing the Outriders lining up for a rear charge on jaqens raiders. I then killed off the Stark Bowmen before Howland started making it hard to hit, moving back towards the centre objective afterwards...
I'd also played surrounded and exposed on the hard to hit/wound Tully Sworn Shields...
And so the crunch came... Bryndens Outriders crashed into the rear of Jaq'ens Raiders, but Mance allowed them to pass their morale, leaving 3 raiders left.
Mance's Spearwives then activated, missing all 4 spearthrows but fortunately only 1 Trapper died as a result of the panic, and mercifully no Raiders. In melee, with raid leader assists, despite Syrio, all 7 attacks struck home in the rear of the shieldwall
Leaving 3 Tully Shields. Determined to go down fighting, they attacked the Raiders with Ja'qen...
With Syrio's precision, they scored 1 wound and 3 hits, but as they were weakened, I forced the re-roll, as below. 2 auto wounds and 2 hits wiped the unit...
A Man must have a name, so Ja'qen slipped off to assassinate Mance!!!
I had Craster take the bags to prevent Starks using it and gained a card while healing
The Cave Dwellers charged in and using overwhelming assault, made short work of the Tully men with some nice dice, despite Syrio...
This left the Starks with just the Outriders on the board
The Freefolk controlling all the objectives, and no more activations for Starks resulted in game over at end of Turn 4.
GAME ENDS
FREEFOLK 10 VP's (4 from units as Mance killed 1, 6 from objectives)
STARK 6 VP's ( 1 from objective, 3 from units and 2 for killing Mance)
Andy enjoyed the game, but my dice were superb in Turns 3 and 4.
So yet again the Mammoth died early, and should have trampled back into Mance but I cocked it up...
The Starks were well tough, with Howland Reed NCU influence, Syrio and Mummers all reducing dice rolls to hit. For my base 4+ to hit, that was frustrating but for my lucky dice. Andy played aggressively and had me on teh back foot, and those bowmen would have been so nasty left unengaged hence why I risked Mance on them. I think had he flanked the Spearwives with the Tully's, the game may have turned out differently, but think he thought the cavalry would sort them out. It took 4 units and 5 melee's to sort them Tully Sworn Shields out, and that was really only the rear charge and the super boosted Cave Dwellers...
It was a great game, no holds barred and sure by the time I get to face Andy again, he'll be ready for my lucky dice...
EVENTS IN UK (I know about)
Really looking forward to rest of year in UK, especially the one I'll be running a two day event at Ribble Rumble in December The Ribble Rumble - ASOIF | Facebook
My next event is at Board in Brum in July, which Simon has organised. First ASOIF event I went to was down here, and it was a great day... A Song of Ice and Fire Tournament – 3 July 2021 – Board in Brum
Rich and his boys at Justplay in Liverpool are running one too... Event Tickets | JustPlayGames
Other Events:
North of the Wall, John Craig is running The Siege of Pyke at Common Ground Games in Stirling,a 4 game event on 11th July,. Its a four hour drive for me, so ruled out for a one day I'm afraid. https://www.facebook.com/events/4027498000641474?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22group%22%7D]%7D
Ian has this one down at Boards and Swords, Derby (Great event last February, before the madness, gutted cant make this one) AsSOIAF - Blood on the Trident one day event - 18/07/2021 — Boards and Swords Hobbies
The lads at Imps Gaming in Lincoln have a few lined up, nice venue as been there twice: A Song of Ice and Fire Ticket - Aug 2021 (imps-gaming.com) I cant make the August one sadly, but November is hopefully doable... A Song of Ice and Fire Ticket - Nov 2021 (imps-gaming.com)
Gavin up at Gaming Figures in Redcar will doubtless run a few too Gaming Figures
As will the Entoyment down in Poole, who organise the awesome Beachhead exhibition. Homepage - Entoyment Wargaming and Hobby Centre
All the above venues support the game and sell A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures. Check them out, or pop in and visit if you are in the area...
Excellent Batrep! Thanks for the great read. Sounded like a closer game than the final points suggest, which is often the case.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. It was, I wasn't expecting the Starks to come after me like that (as previously they were all maneouvre and sneaky). So many new rules is fun to learn, even the hard way. Still love the Mammoth, just got to remember to keep him within 6" of Mance, but he takes so much attention early game it gives the rest of the force time to jockey for position.
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