This is the tenth report in our narrative campaign series, Campaign of Thrones. After each battle, the characters on the losing side will potentially be captured or killed. This will transform the story as we know it, inspiring new ‘What If?’ scenarios and battle reports. Join us on this alternative dice-driven version of the War of the Five Kings and battle at the Wall.
The Mountain’s Men are a new sellsword company looking to pillage their way across Westeros as they make way to Essos. While raiding the Riverlands, they run into Ned & Robb Stark, searching for the Night’s Watch caravan that Arya Stark joined to escape King’s Landing. If the Mountain wins, he’ll make his way to Essos and mingle with the characters currently congregating across the Narrow Sea. If the Starks win, the Mountain will be captured or killed, finally receiving punishment for his many terrible crimes.
The game size was 40 Points per army. The lists were:
HOUSE STARK:
Units (Attachments)
Eddard’s Honor Guard (Eddard Stark, Commander)
Tully Sworn Shields (Robb Stark)
Umber Greataxes (Greatjon Umber)
Conscripts (Model Only Arya Stark)
Conscripts (Watch Recruiter)
Grey Wind
Jaqen H’ghar (placed in the Mountain’s Men unit without Gregor)
NCUs
Rodrik Cassel
HOUSE LANNISTER (THE MOUNTAIN’S MEN):
Units (Attachments)
Mountain’s Men (Gregor Clegane, Commander)
Mountain’s Men
Clegane Brigands
Clegane Brigands
Lannister Crossbowmen
NCUs
Pycelle
Tycho Nestoris
We liked the idea of having only one NCU for the Stark side since they’ve been searching for Arya off the beaten path and cut off from their house resources. This is also tying in with the Baratheon conflict, as Stannis has been trying to contact Ned to no avail. For the Mountain’s side, we used Pycelle even though in our story he’s currently a member of Renly’s court (he does still feel some loyalty towards the deceased Lannisters).
DEPLOYMENT
The two combatants agreed they wanted a bloodbath. Most of the units were lined right up at the deployment edge, ready for imminent combat.
On the left, Greatjon and his Greataxes stared down the Lannister Crossbowmen and a unit of Clegane Brigands.
In the center, Robb faced off against Gregor Clegane and his Mountain’s Men, with the 2 Conscript units behind him for support.
On the right, the second Mountain’s Men unit deployed behind the nearest house, while Ned and his Honor Guard lined up against the second unit of Brigands. Grey Wind deployed a few inches behind Ned.
ROUND 1
The Mountain player marked both Conscript units. The Stark player marked Gregor’s unit and the Crossbowmen. The marked Mountain units would also be torch bearing units for the special Put to the Torch rule.
Gregor activated, placed 1 VP on Robb’s unit, and charged in. Sadly, it was a failed charge and Gregor’s unit suffered 1 wound from the panic test. The Brigands and Greatjon traded blows on the left-flank, but thanks to some Greatrolling, the Umbers came out relatively unscathed. Robb countercharged into Gregor with Devastating Impact. The Mountain player tried Counterplot, but failed the roll. The Mountain’s Men were now panicked and vulnerable, but Robb’s attack only did 3 wounds total, thanks in large part to Pycelle and his weakened token from earlier in the round. On the right side, the other unit of Brigands tried to charge into Ned’s Honor Guard, but again rolled poorly and failed the charge. Grey Wind acted quickly and attacked their flank. The Conscripts moved up to get ready to hand out a lot of Suppply Aid as the first round came to a close. Arya placed 1 VP on Gregor Clegane’s unit, sensing weakness as they clashed with Robb and his powerful Shieldwall ability (in this scenario, Arya replaces the usual function of the Stark commander by placing VPs on enemy units when she activates).
ROUND 2
The Stark player began by using Rodrik to claim the swords and attack Gregor with Robb’s unit. They played Winter’s Might and got 7 juicy hits with sundering. Gregor was saving on 6s and was still vulnerable, so he suffered 7 wounds (but luckily passed their panic check). The Mountain player immediately used Tycho’s once-per-game ability and the bag zone to heal Gregor up 8. Robb attacked Gregor gain, but this time only dealt out 3 wounds.
Gregor smashed Robb back, but most of the hits were blocked with Shieldwall. The Stark player used Fury of the Fallen to get a free charge against the exposed Brigands. Rally Cry helps Robb heal 2. We now have a similar scenario to our Battle of the Bastards battle report where our Stark player has created a healing bubble around key units, using Rally Cry and Supply Aid to heal whenever necessary. Ned damaged the Brigands and Grey Wind was able to finish them off for good. 1 to 0 for House Stark. This is a good time to mention how incredible Grey Wind has been throughout this campaign, definitely the House Stark MVP.
Greatjon shrugged off some crossbow bolts and continued to battle the remaining Brigands, taking them down to just 4 wounds. Supply Aid healed Greatjon 4 wounds and Arya placed a second VP on Gregor’s unit. Near the end of the round, Pycelle used the crown zone to target a Conscript unit. They failed their panic test, suffering 3 wounds. That unit only had 3 wounds left, halting their Supply Aid for now.
1 to 0 House Stark.
ROUND 3
Robb and Gregor traded 2 attacks each and Robb was finally able to destroy Gregor’s unit. The Young Wolf’s legend grows as he kills the behemoth Gregor Clegane and removes him from the Campaign of Thrones. Gregor was a marked unit and had 2 VPs placed on him, so along with victory through combat, the unit was worth 5 victory points. 6 to 0 for House Stark.
The remaining unit of Mountain’s Men charged into Robb, but Rodrik was able to use his ability to remove the order token from the Sworn Shields and give them back Shieldwall. They survived the assault, and on the other side of the battlefield the Greataxes were able to cut through the Brigands and take out the last of the cavalry.
They wanted a bloodbath. 7 to 0 for House Stark.
ROUND 4
After attacks from Robb and Grey Wind, the surviving Mountain’s Men were severely weakened. Arya and the Conscripts charged in for the kill and succeeded. Valar Morghulis. The Stark player scored 2 more VPs (1 from VTC, 1 because the Conscripts were a marked unit), bringing the score to 9 to 0. With only the heavily damaged Crossbows remaining, the game was called.
Final score: 9 to 0 for House Stark.
WRAP-UP
Unfortunately, the Put to the Torch special rule was never utilized as the Mountain player had to use each and every action to fight for their life. I will likely remove the torch bearer restriction in the future and allow all Lannister units to use an attack action to set fire to a nearby house.
The Starks have been on quite a roll, and their legend grows across Westeros. Killing Gregor Clegane may gain Robb and his family the favor of House Martell (if they ever become a part of the game). With the death of the Mountain, House Lannister shrinks even more and is now mainly a faction of Faith. Luckily for the Father of the Faithful, he may soon gain some unexpected allies from across Ironman’s Bay.