This is the third battle report in our series of epic one-off matches, Battle Stories. This series highlights some of the craziest custom scenarios on Board Man Gaming, with huge battlefields and oversized army lists.
“But your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.” - Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
Ever since I designed the Watchers on the Wall a few years ago, I had grand visions of playing an absolutely massive version of the scenario with every Night’s Watch and Free Folk unit I own duking it out on the tabletop. Once Mag the Mighty was released, I started planning the gigantic battle in earnest. The previous largest game I’ve ever played, the Battle of Blackwater Bay, was pretty huge at 75 points per army. This battle easily eclipsed that with over 125 points per side.
Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the scope of the game:
You might be able to spot that I have indeed started painting my models, beginning with Free Folk Raiders and Mammoths. I’m expecting to have my entire collection finished around 2040.
The lists were stupid big:
NIGHT’S WATCH:
Units (Attachments)
Sworn Brothers (Alliser Thorne, Commander)
Sworn Brothers (Jon Snow)
Veterans of the Watch (Eddison Tollett)
Shadow Tower Spearmen (Grenn & Pyp)
Conscripts (Samwell Tarly)
Ranger Hunters (Watch Captain)
Builder Crossbowmen
Ranger Trackers
Ranger Vanguards
Conscripts
Watch Marshall
Builder Scorpion Crew
Builder Scorpion Crew
Builder Stone Thrower
Builder Stone Thrower
Ghost
NCUs
Othell Yarwyck
Donal Noye
Maester Aemon
FREE FOLK:
Units (Attachments)
Thenn Warriors (Styr, Commander)
Spearwives (Ygritte)
Free Folk Raiders (Tormund Giantsbane)
Free Folk Raiders (Harma)
Free Folk Raiders (Skinchanger)
Free Folk Raiders (Skinchanger)
The Bonelord’s Chosen (Rattleshirt)
Followers of Bone (Borroq)
Mag the Mighty
Spearwives
Thenn Warriors
Free Folk Trappers
Cave Dweller Savages
Savage Giant
Savage Giant
Savage Giant
War Mammoth
War Mammoth
Frozen Shore Chariot
Frozen Shore Chariot
Frozen Shore Bear Riders
Borroq’s Boar
Skinchanger Bear (Custom Unit)
Free Folk Turtle (Custom Unit)
NCUs
Mance Rayder
Val
Dalla
I really enjoy the short section about the Free Folk Turtle in the book, so I designed a special Free Folk siege unit to help them crack the Wall:
DEPLOYMENT
The game was played on a 6 x 4 table with the crazy deployment shown above.
The Free Folk south of the Wall included 2 Thenn Warriors (1 with Styr), Spearwives with Ygritte, and 2 Raiders (1 with a Skinchanger, 1 with Tormund).
As you can see from the in game pictures I posted, all the Night’s Watch units were crammed in the center (this becomes a running issue throughout the game). The Stone Throwers, as is tradition, began on top the super defensive plateaus. All 3 Ranger units were on the frontline, ready to clash against the wilding host north of the Wall. The Crossbowmen and Sworn Brothers with Jon Snow and Alliser Throne guarded the southern gate.
The Free Folk north of the Wall are evenly spread out across their deployment zone. The left castle wall was being put under pressure by the Free Folk Turtle, 2 units of Raiders, Followers of Bone with Borroq, Borroq’s Boar, and a Bear. The center was a monster mash, with Mag the Mighty, a Savage Giant, and 2 War Mammoths being joined by a Frozen Shore Chariot and Spearwives. The right castle wall was being challenged by the Frozen Shore Bear Riders, Free Folk Trappers, the Bonelord’s Chosen, another Frozen Shore Chariot, 2 more Savage Giants, and last (and probably least), Cave Dweller Savages.
ROUND 1
As we learned from our previous colossal encounters, tactics cards and the tactics board don’t play a big role in super extra-large games. As per usual, the zones were grabbed at the start of the round, but I won’t be mentioning them too often.
The Free Folk strategy was clear: get to the castle walls and destroy them for a nice chunk of VPs. The Night’s Watch strategy was also clear: race out of Castle Black and setup some speed bumps to block the Free Folk from accessing said walls.
The Night’s Watch player rolled for the Night Gathers special rule and placed 1 VP on each castle wall.
Night’s Watch started the butchery early, targeting commander Styr’s Thenn Warriors unit with the Stone Thrower and Othell NCU. They did 6 wounds to Styr overall, but the Magnar was able to heal 3 back when Dalla claimed the bags.
The speedy Ranger Hunters utilized the Watch Captain’s Relentless ability to make their way towards the front of the left castle wall. The Free Folk hoped to surprise them with a sneak attack from a Frozen Shore Chariot, but the Chariot stalled right in front of the punchy Hunters. The Chariot survived the initial charge, but after using Swift Strike to retreat and Quick Fire to attack another time, the Chariot was destroyed. It was an early 1 to 0 lead for the Night’s Watch.
On the south side of the Wall, Tormund’s Raiders failed a charge targeting Alliser Thorne (the Free Folk’s second failed charge in as many attempts). Alliser returned the favor and did enough damage to leave the Raider unit with only 1 wound remaining, Tormund himself. A few turns later, a Builder Scorpion took out Tormund and the Night’s Watch player used the tactics card Take the Black to steal Tormund. The Sworn Brothers unit with Alliser and Tormund now had Vicious, Prey on Fear, War Cry, and Stalwart. Of course, Tormund’s original Raider unit had Insignificant, so the score remained 1 to 0. Styr’s unit took some further abuse from the Crossbowmen as things turned south for the Free Folk in the south. Ygritte’s Spearwives and the other Raider unit wisely decided to make for the corner and hide.
On the northern side of the Wall, things were looking much better for the Free Folk. The Savage Giants, who are castle killing machines, all marched forward. The Ranger Vanguards and Range Trackers came out to hopefully slow the monsters down. Near the end of the round, the second Builder Scorpion sniped Borroq’s Boar with a roll of 6, doing 2 wounds. The plucky Boar passed its panic check and survived to see Round 2.
ROUND 2
The Night Gathers roll landed on 3. They added 1 VP to the left castle wall, whose primary threat was the Free Folk Turtle, and 2 VPs to the right castle wall, whose primary threat was 2 Savage Giants.
The Turtle charged into the castle wall early in the round, doing some serious damage with 4 wounds. The Ranger Vanguards tried to get to the Turtle before it was too late, but the Free Folk swarmed in and bogged down the Night’s Watch cavalry. Mag took advantage and charged, launching horses into the air with his massive club, dealing the Vanguards 8 total wounds. A War Mammoth trampled in to finish the job and the game was tied 1 to 1. The Vanguards death triggered the tactics card And Now His Watch is Ended, giving the Crossbowmen a free attack that allowed them to finally kill commander Styr. 2 to 1 for the Brothers of the Night’s Watch.
The left castle wall activated and shot the Free Folk Turtle, destroying it and saving itself from certain destruction next round. 3 to 0 Night’s Watch. On the other side of the Wall, the Night’s Watch were dominant as Jon beat down the second unit of Thenn Warriors while the Raiders and Spearwives watched helplessly from the corner.
Around this time the problem with the sheer number of units being used was evident: half of the Night’s Watch army was stuck behind other Night’s Watch units and were pretty much useless. To best illustrate this point, I had recently purchased the Frozen Shore Bear Riders and Shadow Tower Spearmen and was really excited to use them in this battle, but neither unit saw any combat. They barely even got to maneuver. I’ve played this scenario a few times before at around 50 to 70 points each side and this issue wasn’t as pronounced, but I’m always thinking of tweaks to make each scenario better and I’m sure there will be a few changes to this one.
The Watch Marshal charged into the almost dead Thenn Warriors and made them completely dead. 4 to 1 for Night’s Watch. The Night’s Watch sadly whiffed on 2 Stone Thrower attacks which was a big boon to the wildlings. The objectives were mostly being ignored in the chaos of battle, so late in the round the Free Folk player maneuvered 1 of the Savage Giants onto a token to score 2 VPs at the end of the round.
4 to 3 for the Night’s Watch.
ROUND 3
1 VP was added to the left side wall. The center of the battlefield just beyond the Wall started to get very clustered, with Mag, a Mammoth, a Chariot, and Harma’s Raiders tangling with the Ranger Trackers, Ranger Hunters, and a unit of Conscripts. There’s Too Many is especially potent when the Free Folk have 25 combat units on the table, so it was easy to deal +3 wounds to the Conscripts after a Mammoth attack.
Relentless was used to attack and destroy Harma’s Raiders, then the Ranger Hunters surged forth and used Quick Fire to destroy Borroq’s Boar. Two units destroyed, no VPs scored. A Mammoth charged into the Ranger Trackers and ended what Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg had started. The monster mash tied the game at 4. The Mammoths were running rampant and proving to be effective closers.
The special rule Insurmountable typically keeps the Stone Throwers relatively safe high up on the plateau, but they do have 1 weakness: ranged attacks. The Free Folk Trappers somehow evaded detection from the castle walls long enough to get an attack off in Round 2 and get 6 more hits in Round 3. The wildling bow destroyed the Stone Thrower and gave the Free Folk their first lead of the game, 5 to 4.
South of the Wall, Alliser & Tormund and Jon Snow hunted down the 2 cowering Free Folk units. The Night’s Watch used their spare units to control objective tokens near each gate to ensure that the Free Folk wouldn’t score another 2 easy VPs.
A Savage Giant charged into the right side castle wall and did only 1 wound of damage. It was followed by a Frozen Shore Chariot, which seemed like it might be devastating until both players remembered that castle walls do not have ranks and the Chariot didn’t get auto hits. The Chariot then missed on 3 of their 4 attack dice, doing 0 wounds to the castle wall. The Night’s Watch scored 2 VPs from the objective tokens. The score was 6 to 5 for the Watch.
ROUND 4
1 VP was added to the left side wall. The War Mammoth dominance continued as one destroyed the Conscripts that had joined the fight beyond the Wall. 6 to 6 tie game. Edd Tolett’s Veterans of the Watch joined the fray, doing 2 wounds to the Mammoth, which was just enough for the Scorpion to finish off the beast a few turns later. One Mammoth down, one to go. The score was 7 to 6 for the Night’s Watch. Mag craved revenge, blasting the Veterans for 6 wounds.
The Stone Throwers had been targeting Borroq’s Followers of Bone unit, and Othell NCU was able to shoot them off the table, making the score 8 to 6 for the Night’s Watch. The souped-up Sworn Brothers finally chased down Ygritte and scored another VP, 9 to 6 for the crows. And at the end of the round the Night’s Watch still controlled more objectives, bringing the score to 11 to 6.
ROUND 5
2 VPs were added to the left side castle wall. At first it appeared as though the traffic jam inside Castle Black would help the Free Folk to an easy victory, but the Night’s Watch were able to use their fire power to battle back and make it a close matchup. This round saw a crazy number of VPs being scored for both sides.
Mag kicked it off by destroying the Vetrans of the Watch. “Tell my mother I was killed by a king,” Edd wheezed just before his death. “A king with tits even bigger than hers.” 11 to 7 Night’s Watch.
The castle wall answered back by destroying the pesky Trappers. 12 to 7. A Savage Giant smashed the right side castle wall, scoring 3 VPs for the Free Folk, bringing the score much closer. 12 to 10. A Scorpion blasted the remaining Frozen Shore Chariot. 13 to 10.
A Savage Giant suicide charged into a Scorpion that had moved up on the plateau. The Giant used the 5 wounds it got from the special rule Insurmountable and used them to supercharge their attack and obliterate the Scorpion. 13 to 11. The Crossbowmen responded quickly and plastered the weakened Giant with quarrels. 14 to 11, the Night’s Watch still in the lead.
The surviving Mammoth and Raiders teamed-up to kill the Ranger Hunters. The Hunters fought valiantly for 4 rounds, but in the end were surrounded by too many enemies. 14 to 12. And at the end of the round, the Free Folk now controlled more objective tokens. Which meant…
14 to 14 tie game.
Round 6
1 VP was added to the left side castle wall. The game boiled down to 1 question: can the Free Folk destroy the remaining castle wall? Thanks to the heroism of the Ranger Hunters, it had 4 wounds left. It was attacked in Round 2 by the Turtle which battered it and did 4 wounds damage, but in Round 4 Maester Aemon claimed the bags and healed it by 2.
At the beginning of Round 6, Aemon claimed the bags and again healed the surviving castle wall by 2, bringing it back to full health. There were 2 enemy units in range of the castle wall who stood in the way of a surprising Night’s Watch victory: Spearwives and a War Mammoth. The Mammoth charged the wall and did 2 wounds. Val maneuvered the Spearwives into short range. They targeted the castle wall with their ranged attack to do 1 wound. They needed to do 3 wounds to the castle wall to win the game and had one chance to do it. They charged the castle wall and got 3… hits. The left-side castle wall somehow survived 20 Free Folk units north of the Wall and scored the Night’s Watch 8 VPs as Round 6 ended, handing victory to the crows.
Final score: 22 to 14 for the Night’s Watch
EPILOGUE
Both players gave a sigh of relief when the game was over. The game went faster than we originally thought (only a couple of hours), but that was likely because we were rushing with a lot of units and only focusing on certain battles. I’ve played this scenario several times now and this was the first time both castle walls were not destroyed. The Night’s Watch player was smart to just throw units in front of the castle wall to hold everything up, but the Free Folk player would have likely won if they spread out their Savage Giants instead of deploying them to one side. But with so many units, deployment was less Song strategy and more like Tetris.
Two things became apparent after this game:
One, I don’t think I’ll do anymore massive 200+ point battles. List building is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game, especially when you are playing a scenario based on the books/show and need to find space for a bunch of character attachments. Throwing everything you own on the table kind of defeats the purpose. Playing Blackwater felt epic with 12 activations on each side, so there really is no need to have 25+ activations. It removed most of the movement and tactics card/board strategy and it became a bit of a slog (there was no cheering when the game was somehow tied at the end of Round 5).
Two, there has always been something about this custom scenario that felt a little off, and this time I realized what was bothering me: the castle walls don’t feel like the Wall. Like I mentioned, it’s generally easy for the Free Folk player to destroy both castle walls when playing this scenario. What should be a gargantuan, nearly unassailable defensive structure feels like every other castle wall in every other scenario I’ve created. The Wall needed to be different. This notion was the spark of inspiration for Board Man Gaming’s next big project:
There will be much more posted in the next few days, so stay tuned!