This is the twelfth 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.
After surviving the red waste, Daenerys Targaryen and her retinue find themselves in the ancient city of Qarth. Pyat Pree, a Qartheen warlock, convinces Daenerys to heed the counsel of the mysterious Undying Ones. Inside the House of the Undying, the Dragon Queen sees many alarming visions, including the pretender kings of Westeros. Yet before Daenerys can travel west and save the Seven Kingdoms, she must escape the devious trap of the Undying.
The game size was 40 Points per army. The lists were:
HOUSE TARGARYEN:
Units (Attachments)
Stormcrown Dervishes (Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, Commander)
Dothraki Screamers (Rakaro)
Dothraki Outriders
Jorah Mormont
Drogon
NCUs
Xaro Xhoan Daxos
Illyrio Mopatis
THE UNDYING:
Units (Attachments)
Bolton Blackguards (Daenerys Targaryen, Queen of Meereen, Commander)
Unsullied Swordmasters (Unsullied Officer)
Stark Sworn Swords (Model Only Robb Stark)
Lannister Guardsmen (Model Only Joffrey Baratheon)
Ironborn Reavers (Model Only Balon Greyjoy)
Baratheon Wardens (Model Only Renly Baratheon & Stannis Baratheon)
NCUs
Pyat Pree
This is one of the gimmickier custom scenarios on the site, but my thought is that if you’re going to do the House of the Undying it needs to be weird. Over time I’ve removed a lot of custom rules from earlier scenarios and tried to keep things as simple as possible, but occasionally it’s fun to do something unique. The main gimmick of the House of the Undying scenario is the rule Visions of Deception:
DEPLOYMENT
This scenario uses rules from both the Game of Thrones and Here We Stand game modes. A large impassable tower looms over the battle from the center of the table. As you’ll see in this report, the tower played a vital role in the outcome of this battle.
The Undying army is made up of visions of Daenerys’ past, present, and future. Not only are their units from her own future army, but there are also the core units from each of the Five Kings of Westeros, along with a model only versions of that king. With 6 combat units, the Undying had no choice but to spread them out evenly. From left to right, they deployed the Unsuilled Swordmasters, Baratheon Wardens with Stannis & Renly, Bolton Blackguards with the phantom Daenerys, Lannister Guardsmen with Joffrey, Stark Sworn Swords with Robb Stark, and Ironborn Reavers with Balon Greyjoy.
Across from the Blackguards and Guardsmen was Drogon, flanked by the Stormcrow Dervishes with Daenerys (the actual Daenerys), Jorah Mormont, Dothraki Outriders, and Dothraki Screamers.
ROUND 1
House Targaryen was first player. The game began with all combat units maneuvering up the battlefield. The Undying player showed their hand early and moved the Blackguard, Guardsmen, and Wardens onto the corpse piles with the House of the Undying tower acting as a defensive barrier. This meant they had 16 points worth of units touching the corpse piles to potentially score 2 victory points at the end of each round (beginning round 2). Meanwhile, House Targaryen player positioned their units more aggressively, with the Dothraki threatening the right-hand side and Drogon moving towards the Wardens on the left.
Though the Undying player seemed content to sit back, they made one aggressive move and maneuvered their Unsullied over an objective token. This means they would be teleported at the end of the round. Pyat Pree ended the round by claiming the crown zone and targeting Daenerys’ Dervishes, dealing them 3 wounds.
The round ended and the Undying player rolled to see where they would teleport. They rolled a 1 and teleported right into Daenerys flank, an absolute worst-case scenario for the Targaryens as killing Dany could be 3 easy VPs for the Undying.
ROUND 2
The Unsullied kicked off the round by successfully charging into Daenerys’ flank. The Targ player utilized the tactics card Dragon’s Flight to position Drogon in the Unsullied’s rear. The Unsullied Swordmasters attacked their future queen and did 1 auto wound along with 7 hits. The Dervishes amazingly blocked 4 hits and only suffered 4 total wounds from the attack. They rolled double 6s to pass their panic test. After this attack and the failed panic test from last round, Daenerys was down to 5 wounds remaining.
The Targaryen player had a difficult decision on what to do next. The most obvious play was to put Illyrio on the swords and use his replace effect to heal Daenerys 3, but the weakened token he also puts out is useless on the Unsullied Swordmasters. With the Unsullied Officer’s Relentless ability they would attack again with re-rolls, and if they destroyed the Dervishes they could potentially Overrun into Jorah and easily take him out. The Targ player went with a riskier play of activating Drogon and charging into the Unsullied’s rear, hoping to deal enough damage to keep Daenerys alive for another few turns and prevent the Unsullied from wreaking more havoc from behind enemy lines. Drogon dealt 5 wounds, but the Unsullied passed the panic test even with -2 from a rear attack, -2 from vicious, and a panic token. The Unsullied got to deal 1 wound from Go Down Fighting and chose to damage Drogon. Pyat claimed the swords and the Swordmasters attacked the dragon queen. They did 3 direct wounds from Precision and 4 additional hits. Daenerys saved 3 hits and lived with 1 model left! They passed their panic test and survived! The absolute arrogance of using Go Down Fighting on Drogon could be huge, but they still had Relentless to finish the job.
The frustrated Targaryen player revealed they had the Dracarys! tactics card but couldn’t use it because Go Down Fighting would kill Daenerys. Instead, he placed Xaro on the bags to heal and influence Dany and her Stormcrows. The Undying player used Relentless next, the third straight attack from the offensively elite Swordmasters against the defensively lacking Dervishes. This time they only scored 3 hits, even with re-rolls. Xaro blocked 1 and they saved another. The Dervishes passed the panic test and survived yet another onslaught. Illyrio used his zone replace ability to heal Dany even more, getting her back up to half a tray of models.
The Undying’s Sworn Swords charged into the threatening Outriders, but it was disorderly. They only get 4 hits against them, and the Dothraki save 2. The Targaryen’s defensive rolls have been amazing so far. The Dervishes activate and the Targaryen payer can finally play Dracarys! Drogon attacks and does 4 wounds. The Unsullied crit fail their panic test and die! 1 to 0 for House Targaryen (when it should easily be 3 – 0 or at least 3 -1). With Surge Forth and pivot, both Drogon and the Dervishes maneuvered onto the corpse piles.
The Screamers charged into the exposed Sworn Swords flank and do major damage with 10 wounds. Later in the round, the Outriders finish the Sworn Swords (with the help of Jorah’s Scout Openings ability) and the score is 2 -0 for the Mother of Dragons. She also claimed Robb Stark’s model, which gives her a re-roll if she should teleport in a future round (though no units are currently near the objective tokens). The Outriders are able to surge onto the other corpse pile, giving Daenerys 24-points worth of units on the piles and control of the House of the Undying, scoring her another 2 victory points as the round ends.
4 to 0 for House Targaryen.
ROUND 3
The Reavers charge into the Screamers to try and change the momentum but are unable to do enough damage to frighten the Targ player. The House of the Undying tower that once protected the defensive units of the Undying player is now preventing them from getting involved in the game, blocking the slow-moving units from ever reaching the speedster Dothraki. The round ends and Daenerys scored another 2 VPs from controlling the tower.
6 to 0 for House Targaryen.
ROUND 3
The Reavers continue to chase down the Screamers, but they smartly heal and retreat. 8 to 0 for House Targaryen. The game is called with the Mother of Dragons victorious.
WRAP-UP
Though the final score doesn’t reflect it, the early battle between the Unsullied Swordmasters, Stormcrow Dervishes, and Drogon made this an extremely exciting game. Really, the Swordmasters should have destroyed Daenerys for 3 VP (1 from combat and 2 from the Heir of House Targaryen ability). It also turned out that the Undying player actually did have Overrun in their hand, so they could have likely killed Jorah to get to 4 VP early on, plus gain an activation advantage by taking out 2 combat units. After that, they could have easily scored 2 VP each round just by keeping the Wardens, Guardsmen, and Blackguard safely behind the tower. Instead, the game swung widely in the Targaryen’s favor once the Unsullied went down fighting. Like in the Great Khal, the battle transpired just like the events of the book. Pyat will remain alive (as he does in the books) and Daenerys and her crew will head to Astapor and meet the real Unsullied.
The next battle report will conclude our first phase of the Campaign of Thrones. Timeline wise we will match up with the ending of A Clash of Kings, but instead of the Battle of Blackwater Bay it will be Renly and Stannis fighting over the Iron Throne at King's Landing. And rather than sailing ships up the Blackwater, this time Stannis will be rolling right up to the battlements.
