This is the twenty-first 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.
We’re back! It’s been a long layoff since the Battle for the North, but I’m determined to finish the story threads we setup in the previous reports. The first of those being Roose Bolton’s plan to take advantage of the power vacuum in the westerlands by seizing Casterly Rock. With the way Casterly Rock is described in the books, a traditional ‘storming the castle’ siege didn’t seem probable. Instead, I decided to break the takeover of the westerlands into 3 parts: Ramsay terrorizing the countryside, Steelshanks Walton’s blockade of Lannisport, and the final battle between Roose Bolton and the High Sparrow.
For this 3 part series, the winner will be decided by who has accumulated the most victory points over the course of all 3 games.
LISTS
The game size was standard at 40 Points per side. The lists were:
HOUSE BOLTON:
Units (Attachments)
Bastard’s Girls (Ramsay Snow)
Bastard’s Girls (Grunt)
Dreadfort Archers
Flayed Men
NCUs
Roose Bolton
Walda Frey
Tybald
FAITH MILITANT:
Units (Attachments)
Warrior’s Sons (Preston Greenfield as a proxy for the High Sparrow)
Warrior’s Sons
Poor Fellows
Poor Fellows
Peasant Levy (Champion of the Faith)
Peasant Levy
NCUs
High Sparrow
Tycho Nestoris
The marked units were Ramsay’s Bastard’s Girls (gaining the ability to make the enemy weakened), Dreadfort Archers (gaining ability to roll highest dice number), Preston Greenfield’s Warrior’s Sons (gain vicious), and a unit of Peasants (gaining precision).
DEPLOYMENT
Whereas most Campaign of Thrones battles have had pretty standard straight-line deployment, this time the Faith Militant player decided to bunch up in the back left corner to protect their lower armored units. The shell formation had Preston’s Warrior’s Sons on the far left a few inches back from the deployment edge. Next to them was the other Warrior’s Sons and a unit of Poor Fellows. Behind Preston were a unit of Peasant Levy. Next to them, surrounded by friendly units, was the second Poor Fellows. Finally, the second Peasant Levy with the Champion on the back right.
The Bolton player went with a more standard deployment, lining the troops up directly on top the deployment edge. Ramsay and his Girls were across from Preston on the left, next to Grunt’s Girls, the Flayed Men, and then the Dreadfort Archers on the end near the middle of the battlefield.
ROUND 1
The game began with the Bolton player placing the Skin Collection tactics card on Ramsay, potentially boosting his already vicious attacks with an additional -2 to morale. The Archers moved up into the central forest terrain piece, protecting themselves from enemy charges while not affecting their line of sight since they ignore terrain. Later in the round, the Archers got a weak attack off against the Warrior’s Sons that only gained the Sons a faith token.
The Flayed Men began to maneuver around the Archers to get into the flank of the Faith Militant’s shell formation. The 2 units of Bastard’s Girls moved up to get into attack range of Preston, so at the end of the round Preston charged forward to get the first strike. The charge failed, leaving Preston’s Warrior’s Sons vulnerable as the Boltons were up first in Round 2.
ROUND 2
Roose claimed the swords and Ramsay’s Bastard’s Girls shot at Preston. The ranged attack did nothing, but Ramsay used Charging Volley to charge in with a second attack. The second attack did 4 wounds, aided by a vulnerable token. Preston was able to gain 2 more faith tokens. Despite Tybald trying to dissuade them, the Faith player still claimed bags with Tycho and healed the Warrior’s Sons up the next turn. The Bolton player began to wonder if they had enough fire power to break through the tough defenses of the Warrior’s Sons.
The Peasants and Poor Fellows being shielded by the sturdy Warrior’s Sons began to reposition to ready themselves for the oncoming Flayed Men charge. Emboldened by the lack of success the Bastard’s Girls have had trying to crack their defenses, the centre Warrior’s Sons unit attempted a long charge into Grunt and his unit of Girls, but the charge failed. Of course, they passed the ensuing panic test and gained yet another faith token.
Grunt and his Bastard’s Girls attacked the Warrior’s Sons after their failed charge, but the ranged attack only mustered 1 wound (and 1 more faith token) and the follow-up charge from Charging Volley did no wounds, as the vulnerable token was thwarted by the Sons getting +1 to their defense rolls as Grunt’s Girls moved through the forest terrain during the charge.
Ramsay activated and placed a victory point token on Preston. He only did 1 wound in the attack, but it was enough to get the Warrior’s Sons down to two ranks and to add a second token to Ramsay’s Skin Collection tactics card, supercharging any panic check from Ramsay’s attacks. This immediately comes into play when Preston activates and attacks back, failing the check from Horrific Visage and losing 1 wound. The unit was weakened previously for Walda Frey claiming the crown zone, so their attack was weak even against the no armored doggos. Only 3 hits made it through, and 2 of those hits were blocked by rolls of 6s. The Boltons have been able to demonstrate some staying power by homing in on the Warrior’s Sons with tokens.
The round ended with game still tied, nil-nil.
ROUND 3
The High Sparrow claimed the swords to begin the round and influenced Preston’s Sons. Preston’s Sons attacked Grunt and with the help of a failed panic test were able to mitigate some of Resilience’s power to deal 6 total wounds to Grunt (and heal back 2 themselves). Walda claimed the bags right away to heal back 4 of those wounds. A few turns later, Preston’s Sons activate and deal 7 wounds to Grunt’s unit. Preston’s unit is whittled down by more attacks from Grunt and the Archers, but Tycho Nestoris deposits his support onto the unit to heal back 5 and bring them back to full health.
With only 4 units in the heat of battle, no one seems to be able to get an advantage as everything is being done to lessen those unit’s attacks or heal them after suffering any wounds. The Flayed Men would have to enter the battle if the Boltons stood any chance of breaking through the shell formation. The brave Poor Fellows have positioned themselves to protect the flank of the shell and the Flayed Men oblige and charge in. The Flayed Men, weakened from earlier in the round, end up doing only 1 measly wound to the 6 defense Poor Fellows, with 2 more wounds coming from a failed panic check. A few turns later, the Warrior’s Sons shrug off 4 hits from Grunt and 5 hits from Ramsay. The Poor Fellows then get into the action by attacking the Flayed Men back and doing 2 wounds with Precision.
This could be a long day for the Boltons.
0 to 0 heading into Round 4.
ROUND 4
The Boltons begin the round with a strong attack, with Roose on the swords allowing Ramsay to attack (enhanced with Our Blades Our Sharp) to cut through the faith token and still deal 3 wounds, plus another 2 wounds from Ramsay’s super charged panic test, which allowd Ramsay to heal 2 wounds back from Prey on Fear. Of course, the High Sparrow claimed the bags and healed them up right after.
After trading tactics board machinations, the action shifted back to the battlefield. The Flayed Men, currently being tar pitted by the Poor Fellows, were the perfect target for the… Peasant Levy? Regardless of their poor attack profile, the Levy charged in to help their faithful brothers in arms… and ROLLED FIVE 6s while attacking the flank. In the end they score 5 total wounds. Bolton’s infamous tank cavalry is being bombarded by a bunch of simple country-dwellers.
Tybald claimed claimed the horses and the Flayed Men try to retreat from the Poor Fellows and Peasant Levy sandwich, but the retreat failed. With the help of the Peasant’s Gang-Up ability, the Poor Fellows were able to do 3 more wounds to the flailing Flayed boys. They activated next and finally retreated safely away from the pitchforks and wooden clubs.
Ramsay and the Archers continued to whittle down Preston Greenfield’s unit of Warrior’s Sons. The last activation of the round came down to Preston, who was engaged with Ramsay. Due to the Idleness Means Death rule and because he had no legal space to retreat (being surrounded by his own units) he had to attack Ramsay, who had Horrific Visage and the additional -2 to morale from Skin Collection. This attack led to a failed panic test and Preston’s unit being destroyed, scoring 7 victory points for House Bolton: 1 from Victory Through Combat, 1 for killing with an ability from a marked unit, 2 from killing a marked unit, and 3 more for the tokens that were placed on the unit. Suddenly, the Flayed Men’s troubles seem like a distant memory.
7 – 0 for House Bolton.
ROUND 5
A desperation crown zap almost knocks out Grunt and his Bastard’s Girls, but they heal up and finish off the other unit of Warrior’s Sons. 8 – 0 for House Bolton.
A unit of Poor Fellows desperately charged into Grunt and the doggos, doing just 1 wound from the attack, but it’s enough to prompt a panic test that wipes out the unit. 8 – 1 for House Bolton.
The Peasant Levy unit that had been a thorn in the side of the Flayed Men smelled blood in the water, and they wanted to finish the job. Before the Flayed Men could storm in and charge the surviving unit of Warrior’s Sons, the Peasant’s charged them and got 3 hits. The Flayed Men proceeded to fail al 3 of those saves and then failed the panic test, destroying the intimidating Bolton cavalry and humiliating the Bastard of Bolton. 8 – 2 Boltons.
In his anger, Ramsay placed a victory point on the Poor Fellwos that killed Grunt and was able to wip them out with the help of Charging Volley. The score was 11 – 2 and there was nothing the Faith Militant could do as the round came to an end.
Final score: 11 – 2 House Bolton
WRAP-UP
I do like the swingier elements of Fire & Blood as it can be very dramatic. When the Bastard’s Girls and Archers were attacking the Warrior’ Sons repeatedly and they kept on shrugging it off with the help of their faith tokens, it seemed as though the tide was turning in the Faith’s favour and they would be the ones to cut through Ramsay, Grunt, and the dogs. Instead, the Boltons persisted and eventually one kill scored them 7 points and pretty much seal the game.
We will see if the Faith can bounce back in the Blockade of Lannisport as Steelshanks Walton tries to choke the city and force the High Sparrow and his Guards of the Seven out of Casterly Rock.