This is the seventeenth 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.
PRELUDE
The High Sparrow stood before the enraptured mob gathered in the Lannisport city square. The Voice of the Seven on Earth lifted his hand and the crowd hushed like a rolling wave.
“Here stand our great captains, our six exalted Champions of the Faith,” the High Sparrow proclaimed. Behind him stood Sandor Clegane, clad in black armor with a rainbow sword shining bright on his breastplate. Beside Sandor stood the majority of Joffrey Baratheon’s erstwhile Kingsguard: Ser Meryn Trant, Ser Mandon Moore, Ser Arys Oakheart, Ser Boros Blount, and Ser Preston Greenfield. These men wisely embraced the new puissant order of the High Sparrow rather than meet the gods in-person. They too were clad in black, radiant sword upon their chest.
“Yet it is not the Six Who Are One, but Seven,” the Sparrow said. The crowd laughed and smiled as those who have found a warm embrace after years of bitter cold. “So, who is our final champion? Who will be the seventh shepherd-warrior to help guide Westeros unto a new age of piety?”
Voices in the crowd began to call out names of famed knights. “Ser Loras!” “Ser Barristan!” “Ser Gregor!” “Ser Addam!”
“The Young Wolf!” yelled a young man. The crowd gasped and laughed.
“Renowned warriors,” the High Sparrow agreed. “Though, as we have learned, renown does not equate to virtuousness, to goodness. As I speak another renowned man, Lord Kevan Lannister, is mustering the remnants of his disgraced family’s bannermen to march upon the Rock and slaughter us.” Silence fell upon the square. “Slaughter men, women, and children, for no greater reason than to cover the name Lannister in glory. He believes that name, Lannister, has a greater worth than all your lives, than your very souls. A lie. The lie. The great deception that must be eradicated from this land. We do not yet have a renowned warrior to be our final Champion of the Seven, no, so I pray that all of you will join us. Be our seventh. For together, we are greater than any renowned warrior, any debased dynasty, any godless foe who stands against us!”
The crowd roared, clapped, stomped. The Hound felt the stone tremble beneath his feet. He supposed he made the right choice… for now. Looking at the stone-faces of the other five ‘shepherd-warriors’ it was obvious they also daydreamed about the next ship to Braavos or Volantis. Anywhere but here. But until that day, they would have to fight for this Sparrow. Sod it, thought the Hound. What’s another dead Lannister?
LISTS
The game size was 40 Points per army. The lists were:
FAITH MILITANT:
Units (Attachments)
Poor Fellows (High Sparrow, Commander)
Warrior’s Son (The Hound)
Warrior’s Sons (Boros Blount)
Poor Fellows
Poor Fellows
Poor Fellows
NCUs
Roose Bolton
Walder Frey
Why are Roose and Walder involved? All will be explained after the battle (but mostly because there are no NCUs that fit with the Faith uprising narrative).
HOUSE LANNISTER:
Units (Attachments)
Lannister Crossbowmen (Kevan Lannister, Commander)
Casterly Rock Honor Guard (Guard Captain)
Knights of Casterly Rock
Knights of Casterly Rock
Lannister Crossbowmen
NCUs
Pycelle
For a few of our narrative What If? scenarios we’ve gone with 1 (even 0) NCU lists, and I’ll tell you now that it absolutely sucks for a Lannister army. The idea was that Kevan Lannister had lost almost all his political influence, and he needed to have a military victory to win back some clout. Having only 1 NCU this battle may stop the House Lannister comeback before it ever gets started.
DEPLOYMENT
I’ve wanted to do a bridge scenario for the longest time and was excited to finally give it a go. I tried several iterations of the bridge rules before I was happy with the results. In the end, having the bridge be considered 2 different sections may seem clunky, but I found it to be the best way to get the bridge to function like I imagined it should. With the parapets providing cover & being impassable and units scoring 2 victory points for controlling the bridge token, the army that controls the bridge will likely carry the day.
Kevan placed the Honor Guard directly in front of the bridge while he and his Crossbowmen provided support to their right. One of the Knights of Casterly Rock deployed next to Kevan, covering the right flank.
To the left of the Honor Guard the units were more spread out with the second Knights and second Crossbowmen units patrolling the left side.
Across from the Knights and Crossbowmen were a unit of Poor Fellows and the Hound in his unit of Warrior’s Sons. Boros Blount and his Warrior’s Sons staked themselves in front of the bridge, while the High Sparrow and 3 units of Poor Fellows faced off against Kevan on the right.
ROUND 1
With the bridge being key to victory, the Faith used the first activation of the game to have Roose claim the horse zone and maneuver Boros Blount’s Warrior’s Son up the battlefield. Throughout the rest of the round the other combat units also moved toward the riverbank.
The non-Kevan unit of Crossbowmen and one of the Knights of Casterly Rock claimed objective tokens on the Lannister side of the river. On the Faith side of the river, the Poor Fellows on the left patiently waited behind the token and away from crossbow range, while on the right the three units of Poor Fellows created a U-shaped defensive formation around the unit that claimed the token. Boros’ Warrior’s Sons marched over the all-important bridge token. They were challenged by the Casterly Rock Honor Guard, who moved in position to strike during Round 2.
With the last activation of the round, the Faith used Walder on the crown, giving them first player for the second round in a row.
ROUND 2
The Lannisters assessed the board state and did not like how the battle was unfolding. The bridge terrain piece that we were using did not allow enough room for a unit of Crossbows to provide support in the fight against the Warrior’s Sons because the Honor Guard and parapets would be blocking line of sight. Knowing that they would lose if drastic actions weren’t taken, Kevan’s unit of Crossbows and the non-token Knights moved aggressively across the river, hoping to clear out the Hound and encircle the bridge.
Kevan fired at the Hound and his Warrior’s Sons, but he was weakened and wound up doing no damage. Seeing that Kevan had left himself pretty much isolated, the High Sparrow prayed to the Warrior then charge into his fellow commander. The Poor Fellows unit, throwing 5 dice on 5+ to hit, used their faith token to gain precision and rolled THREE 6s and TWO 5s, doing 5 wounds total. Kevan passed his panic check and hit back with Lannister Supremacy, but the High Sparrow passed rolling doubles sixes. They must have been praying extra hard before the battle.
The Honor Guard charged into the Warrior’s Sons to hopefully wrestle control of the bridge token away from them. The attack did 4 wounds after the faith token blocked 1 hit. The Warrior’s Sons struck back, doing 2 wounds from Boros’ Vengeance of the Crown and 4 wounds from their attack. With the Honor Guard dropping a rank, the Warrior’s Sons regained control of the token. The Faith Militant scored 2 victory points from the bridge objective and 1 victory point each from the riverbank objective tokens. The loyalist Lannisters scored 1 victory point from the left-side Crossbowmen and the Knights on the right-side.
4 to 2 for the Faith.
ROUND 3
The Knights of Casterly Rock are unable to move out of the river to get their charge off, so their charge against the Hound will suffer from hindering. They still get into the flank, so the Hound and his Warrior’s Sons will be saving on 5+. They scored 7 hits and they turn into 6 wounds. The Faith play Protection of the Father to reroll their fails, saving 2 more and only suffering 4 wounds, one of which is blocked by their faith token. The Lannister’s played Hear Me Roar which ensured a panic test failure, causing 2 wounds.
The Lannisters played Predictable Maneuvers and target Roose and Blount’s Sons. The High Sparrow attacked Kevan again, but less successfully than the first sparrow smackdown. The Poor Fellows only managed 1 wound against Kevan this time and suffered 3 wounds back from Lannister Supremacy.
In somewhat of a surprise move, Pycelle activated but gave up the swords to instead move the right-side Knights of Casterly Rock off the objective token and get them in range to potentially charge the High Sparrow. On the bridge, Boros Blount’s Warrior’s Sons and the Honor Guard traded attacks, but a second attack from the Warrior’s Sons got the best of the lions and destroyed the unit. The game was starting to get away from Kevan, as it was now 5 to 2 and the Warrior’s Sons had complete control of the bridge.
The right-side Knights charged across the river into the High Sparrow. Even without rerolls because of hindering, they dealt 8 wounds to the commander’s Poor Fellows. Only the Father of the Faithful himself remained in the unit, and he did not waiver during the panic check. With their last gasp effort going out in a whimper, the round ends with the Poor Fellows ganging up against Kevan and destroying his unit. The score was 6 to 2, and the Faith scored 4 more at the end of the round to finish the game (2 from the bridge token, 1 each from the riverbank tokens on their deployment side).
Final score: 10 to 2 for the Faith Militant.
WRAP-UP
Kevan Lannister is dead, beaten to death by Poor Fellows on the bank of the river while the High Sparrow and Sandor Clegane looked on. And with him so to dies the final remnants of House Lannister (until Daven, Genna, and Lancel get released in a future heroes box). The Faith Militant now solidly control Casterly Rock and the westerlands, though they've lost an important ally across Ironman’s Bay.
This second phase of the Campaign of Thrones will be wrapping up soon with a final clash between King Renly and the Rightful Heir Stannis and to cap it off a huge clash at the Wall that will prove that I didn’t learn my lesson about humungous battles. Now, as to why Roose Bolton was involved in this conflict far away in the south…
CODA
Lord Bolton sat alone in the Dreadfort’s great hall. A serving boy entered carrying a plate of tender venison, fat mushrooms, and spiced onions. He set the plate in front of Lord Bolton and flitted away. Roose cut into the meat. Blood oozed out, soaking into the vegetables.
“And who are you, the proud lord says, that I must bow so low?” a voice sang. Ramsay Snow stepped out from the shadows and grinned at his father.
Roose wiped his mouth. “A raven arrived this morning from Lady Donella Hornwood. She demands to know why Bolton men are mustering near her border.”
“She and I have had some slight misunderstandings, father. It’s hard to maintain communication when she won’t speak to a bastard, and I won’t speak to a hoary, fat bitch. Not until she finds a good husband…”
“This game of yours will end, now. I’ve heard how you and your pet have enjoyed your ‘hunts’ while I’ve been at war, and how the nearby villages have been robbed of nearly every comely girl.”
“Hornwood is ripe for the taking,” Ramsay told his father. “Ample fields, forests, and villages; safeguarded by a witless old crone.”
“Was this absurd plot conceived of by your companion, Reek?” Roose asked. “His stench was revolting. My guardsmen gagged as they hung him from a tree. I doubt even the crows will go near his corpse. His flesh will rot by the wind and rain.”
Ramsay’s eye twitched. Roose continued. “I have no designs on Hornwood, and even if I did, House Stark’s hold on the north is ironclad. Now is not the time for defiance.” He drank from his goblet. “I had a long talk with Lord Stark before I returned north,” he said. “The westerlands are in utter disarray. Kevan Lannister is marshalling a motley legion to reclaim the Rock from the Sparrows. He will fail, I will see to that. Both King Renly and King Stannis have proffered House Stark grand favours in reward for their annihilation of the Lannisters, in which I played no small part. Lord Stark has no desire to leave Winterfell, so those gifts will be issued to his kin and loyal bannermen.” Roose took another drink. “I don’t want the little fields of the Hornwood. I want Casterly Rock.”