So eager to try out new Stark combinations, Ste brought a motley collection of

Mormonts, Umbers, Karstarks and Starks to face a Wildling invasion...

I took Mance of course with a whole host of Spearwives and Skinchangers as below

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

Spearwives with Jarl - Advance Raid Leader

Spearwives with Skinchanger

Spearwives

Free Folk Raiders with Borroq - Boar Skinchanger

Borroq's Boar

Frozen Shore Hunters with Skinchanger

NCU's

Lady Val & Craster

THE WARDEN OF THE NORTH (West)

Steven "PsychoSte" Connor

No Flayed Men or Tully Cavaliers...

House Karstark Spearmen with Maege Mormont (C)

House Umber Berserkers with Bronn - The Sellsword

House Mormont Bruisers with Rickon Stark & Osha

Shaggydog

Stark Outriders NCU's

Catelyn Stark, Arya Stark & Rodrik Cassel

TERRAIN & DEPLOYMENT

We rolled randomly for terrain and got: Palisade, wall, corpse pile, wall, hedge

STARKS: Shaggydog, Outriders, Bronns Umber Berserkers, Maege's Karstark Spears,

Rickon's Mormont Bruisers

FREEFOLK: Spearwives with Skinchanger, Borroq's Boar behind, Borroq's Raiders,

Mance's Trappers, Frozen Shore Hunters with Skinchanger, Spearwives. (Jarl's Spearwives on outflank)

TURN 1

I let Ste take first activation, but brought on my Jarl's unit on my right straight away after deploying two eagles, and after Ste took the letters, I used Craster on the horses to snatch the objective on the right

The rest of Turn 1 saw Shaggydog seize the left and an early Arya token being spent, along with Outrider Tactical Reposition get Maege and her Karstark retinue on the centre. My outflanking spearwives then preceded to hinder my own movement.

With hindsight, I'd over deployed right, but I wanted to outnumber the Starks there. A unit on the left may have given Ste something more to think about.

TURN 2

After selecting the Wolf for the Berserkers and Bear for my Spearwives Skinchanger, I had Val take the Swords to allow my left side Spearwives and Skinchanger to throw and charge the Karstarks

And get out of Berserkers arc. The combination of poor throws, Corpse pile and 4+ to hit meant I only managed to kill two spearmen.

And they easily passed their panic check

The Karstarks activated, did Hold the Line and killed five, before cutting down five more with their attack

But I did pass the panic! Just as well, as these "Southerners" are well hard

I had Craster swap out the Horses to deny the spearmen a retreat, healing two Spearwives, and another two from his once per game. Oh, and Regroup and reform card too. Ste looked to activate his two remaining NCU's but passed as I whipped out both Wildling Diplomacy cards early. (he wouldn't risk Shaggydog)

But even with the Bear appearing as my Skinchangers spearwives activated, Maege Mormont and the Karstarks were resolute. My Frozen Shore Hunters moved up in support, and as the Mormont Bruisers threatened the Hunters, my right side Spearwives marched up to threaten them.

The Outriders made short work of the Bear when they charged its rear

As I brought up Borroq, to entice the Berserkers, his board went after Shaggydog, doing two wounds and seizing the objective

On the right, the Bruisers scored an impressive 7 hits with a critical blow.

But I made four saves, although lost a fourth man to panic

The attack allowed my Spearwives on the right to move up with Diversion tactics before the Berserkers flanked the Boar, easily killing it and giving Shaggydog his objective back, before they dropped back to threaten the flank of the Skinchangers Spearwives.

BOARD at END OF TURN 2

Tactics Board at End of Turn 2 (with two Stark NCU's passing)

STARKS 2 VP's (2 objectives)

FREEFOLK 1 VP (1 objective)

TURN 3

Rodrik on the Swords (giving out a vulnerable as he went) saw the Bruisers activate

And choosing critical blow, Ste rolled high and cut my Frozen shore Hunters down, before turnign to face the Spearwives

And despite the disrupt, some well aimed javelins, a thunderous charge and failed panic meant only Osha and Wittle Wickon were weft...

Unsurprisingly, Ste healed them so I had my Spearwives hack into the Spearmen again, dropping a rank and finally seizing the objective

I used both my NCU's to advance Mance's Trappers up into threat range and Borroqs Raider up to block the Spearwives flank from the Berserkers.

While the Karstarks and Lady of Bear Island ripped my spearwives apart again

Arya on the Letters was converted by Assault Orders to have the Bruisers attack the Spearwives

And choosing Critical blow seemed to be working for Ste, with 11 hits..

I saved 5, lost two more ladies to panic so had to use my second Regroup and Reform card, which I hoped to save for Mance...

The Northern Houses were whittling my forces down

And they totally decimated me after the Berserkers charged and Bruisers attacked again...

Tactics Board End of Turn 3

END OF TURN 3

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

FREEFOLK 2 VP's (2 objectives)

TURN 4

Activating first, I took the swords and had the Trappers shoot into the Bruisers. I managed to drop them down to 3 models, but failed my panic check on the spearwives and they died

Ste healed them up, but Mance's Raider's then activated and shot the Bruisers down to Osha and Rickon again. And they failed the panic check!!!

In response, Maege activated. And we had a conundrum. So, the Karstark Spearmen have Hold the line, so did 3 hits on my Skinchanger and remaining spearwife, killing them. Ste wanted to declare a charge, but I argued that he began the activation engaged so could only attack or retreat. However, the activation step is ahead of the actual declare action stage. Anyway, rather than drag it out (or rely on Mr Ray's interpretation as he always sides with Ste in these discussions), we rolled for it and Ste won (further unbiased online interpretations suggest Ste was right anyway). And Borroq and his Raider was easily dispatched.

With three units dead and two objectives secured, Ste had the game. I could only retreat the remnants of my forces out of harm's way as both the Berserkers and Outriders tried long range charges (both failing by one inch)

END OF TURN 4 (and Game)

STARKS 10 VP's (4 units, 6 objectives and a Boar)

FREEFOLK 5 VP's (1 unit with Rickon, 3 objectives)

Board at End of Game

Well, that went bad from the start. I deployed poorly and Ste really didn't need to get out of first gear after that. I had planned to take the centre and right and defend, but Arya and the Tactical reposition put Steve in control on the centre and I couldn't reclaim it. And the Jarl's Spearwives just stopped my right moving in turn 1. Ste was pretty happy with his mish-mash, and there were some real tricky and nasty combinations in those Starks. good to be using the Skinchangers again, but I sold them short by having to go piecemeal at the superior Northern infantry and didn't get to see much of the Frozen Shore hunters. Plan on running the Great Walrus next time out, if I ever get my chariot back. Updates on the whole seem positive and looking forward to a few more games and some more events...