Battle Report – Stompy goes Stomping!

Last night at the local gaming club in Bury we had not 1 but 2 games of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) going on, one was me vs Mark who is still new to the game, I’ve played him once before and I think he had 1 other game. And the other was my good mate Ben demoing the game, the demo game went well apparently and we may be getting another new player in the near future! Like an idiot I took no pics of the other game but plenty of mine so lets get on with that.

I had slightly different Nights Watch list this time, I decided to buy no attachments, for those not in the know attachments are named or un-named heroes that lead a unit and give it benefits, this allowed me more points to spend on units, I also went light on the non-combat units and hence had a lot relatively lot of troops in the field. So I had a unit of Vets with my commander Jeor Mormont in (only attachment as you have to have a commander) then a unit each of normal Sworn brothers, ranges on foot (Ranger Hunters), mounted rangers with bows (ranger trackers) and a Scorpion bolt thrower. My 2 non combat units where Aemon (healer) and Bowen Marsh (give out tactic cards).

Mark had gone for Greyjoys (Viking style models) and Golden Company Mercenarys with a war Elephants, as Mark put how does not love Vikings with Elephants! The the Comander was Asha in unit of Archers, a unit of Reavers lead by Euron Greyjoy that makes the unit really hard but takes damage every time they do things, a unit of Reapers (Vikings with massive scythe like weapons that are rather scary) with a unit of Golden Company Sword men and an elephant called Stompy! non combat units for mark where Erik Ironmaker and Aeron Greyjoy that heals units when they activate seemingly a good combination with his brother Euron. And here is Stompy that Marks has been working hard on and was looking really nice and that red easy to target top 🙂

We played the mission Game of Thrones with 5 objective markers on the table (blue 2p size markers) and each scoring 1 victory point each round from turn 2 onwards. We ended up with 2 palisades (that block movement and line of sight) on the left and center 1 inspiring tree Marks side of the board and a hedge central, and one corpse pile on the right. I deployed heavy my right while Mark clumped up on my left.

Turn 1 was a very “cagy” affair both of us moving around advancing down the flank we had picked and being very non-comital in the center. Looking at my camera angel I was obviously already climbing the walls at this stage!

Turn 2 continued in a very tip toeing dancing, with a few arrows being fired by either team but no really damage sustained. The big changes this turn was Mark going through the palisade on the far left (a unit can attack them and knock the down), I had secured the 2 objectives on my right netting me 2 points while Mark only managed to get the one his side of the board on the left, giving him only 1 point. I did however start making mistakes at this point, so I knew I was going first on turn 3 so I moved my fast Cav up end of this turn and shoot his Reavers on the left flank, the dice where not in my favor and no wounds where caused, also I had not set up my move correctly, so I could not get the objective that was about an inch out of reach in front of them (if I had thought about things in turn 1 I could of set that up) so I dropped a potential victory point there.

Turn 3 and the Dance continued! Mark moved onto his to left and side objectives I moved my cav away, but towards the end of the turn I started to feel like I saw an opening, so I moved my rangers in deep off there objective in the far right and shoot the Reapers on the back of Marks line, badly! This saw us coming level on victory points as I only got 1 but mark picked up 2 so 3 : 3 at then end of stage 3 and no really fighting.

Turn 4 finally saw some action, but only at the far back of the board, Marks Reavers charged my rangers and did some damage, but then I did a bit of a nasty move, where I used my healing NCU to firstly heal up the Rangers a bit with his skill while getting them to attached from the none Combat board, they could then do there cheating Ranger special move of every time they fight they can withdraw and then shoot! leaving Marks rangers in a dangerous situation of only 2 models left. Mark had a plan however and moved Stompy the Elephant into a supporting position putting me in a bit of a bind. If I did nothing with my Rangers Stompy would get them, if I attached the Reavers (and even kill them) Stompy could still get me, if I ran off there was still a chance Stompy could reach me. So I went for the Reavers and got the first combat kill on Turn 4! Then Stompy came in and did his thing, and it hurt, it hurt a lot, but 2 brave rangers stood there ground! At this point I decided I had to go for it, but also made my second mistake, I moved my Sworn Borthers and Vets up for a charge next turn (and I was first player) but I miscalculated my fast cav, I thought they could get the objective on the top right but no, out again! the second victory point in the game they had just been away from. This meant Mark jumped in the lead to 6 victory points to my 4 (3 objectives last turn and 1 combat kill).

If the rest of the game had been rather dance like and position Turn 5 turned on the really fighting one the left I charged into Marks Reavers, after the dust of the turn ended with some healing up from Mark had 2 reavers left to my 7 Sworn Brothers which meant he could not claim the victory point of the objective he was stood on. in the center I the 2 anvils of our forces clashed and resulted in not much to speak of after lots of dice thrown. And my rangers had a very lucky escape, they did their attacks on Stompy before he could kill them ran off and shoot him some more all of the swords via an Aemon taking the swords and healing (I think), then Mark moved Stompy with the horses (on the none combat board) and then went for a charge into the rangers but was to away from his Golden company bosses so got a bit confused so stood there and eat some grass (few!), more healing up via a an objective and the bags on the non combat board and they where back in the fight! But the scores where still in Marks favor going into the last turn of the game.

Turn 6 it got messy and dice got rolled fast! So at this point the club was shutting and we we sort of being asked to pack up, we may of ignored that and carried on regardless 🙂 I finally went through the Reavers with my Sworn brothers and onto the archers, but could not take them, the rangers and Stompy tried to finish help out in the center but the anvils of both forces held strong! while my cav stayed put on the objective. Which we we chalked it up was a tight win to Mark!

This game was an absolute blast, 4 turns of maneuvering and little jabs and 2 turns of all out hell for leather combat, possibly the best game of ASOIAF yet!

Take homes for me, measure more often, you can measure when you want so I should, twice I had assumed a unit could be on an objective and twice I was wrong, that alone cost me the game. Second thing was that the bolt thrower was not worth it this game and caused me problems, with only a 12 inch range an minimal movement options it was just to far back all game, and hence just doing little shots. Normally I take it with a builder attachment and give it overwatch and that makes it so much more dangerous, so I think from now on I’ll only take the bolt thrower with that attachment. Also it was really not that good in this more mobile list, better in a more sit back list I think.

Advertisement