This is the eighth 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 Skirling Pass introduces Jon Snow to the campaign. Scouting the mountain passes beyond the Wall, a group of hardened rangers led by Jon and Qhorin Halfhand find themselves being hunted by Rattleshirt and his bloodthirsty band of followers. Since this scenario takes place in the dangerous Frostfangs mountains it utilizes the Perilous Peaks special rule:
The game size was small at 30 Points per army. The lists were:
NIGHT'S WATCH:
Units (Attachments)
Ranger Hunters (Jon Snow, Commander)
Veterans of the Watch (Qhorin Halfhand)
Ranger Vanguards
Ghost
NCUs
Jeor Mormont
I purposefully made the Night's Watch list undermanned to represent the extremely vulnerable position the rangers find themselves in. Having access to only 1 NCU versus the Free Folk's 2 will make it very difficult for Jon and the Night’s Watch.
FREE FOLK:
Units (Attachments)
Followers of Bone (Rattleshirt, Commander)
Spearwives (Ygritte)
Free Folk Raiders (Skinchanger)
Free Folk Raiders (Champion of Bone)
NCUs
Mance Rayder
Styr
DEPLOYMENT
This scenario utilizes the boxed deployment found in the original version of the Clash of Kings game mode. I’ve kept it for this scenario and Battle of the Camps because it suits the ‘surrounded and exposed’ nature of those chapters. The units were deployed as such:
In the northwestern box, Rattleshirt and his Followers.
In the northeastern box, Raiders with the Champion of Bone.
In the southwestern box, Raiders with Skinchanger.
In the southeastern box, Spearwives with Ygritte.
The plateaus were placed on the left and right side of the Night’s Watch deployment zone, closest to Rattleshirt and Ygritte. 4 large rocks surrounded the Night’s Watch units.
The Ranger Vanguards faced Rattleshirt, Qhorin and the Veterans faced the right-side plateau, and Jon faced down the Raiders with Champion of Bone.
ROUND 1
Jeor began by claiming the horse and maneuvering Qhorin and his Veterans of the Watch on top the right-side plateau, starting the ‘king of the hill’ posturing. The Skinchanger’s eagle scouted the move, allowing his Raiders to shift forward 2”. Mance placed a weakened token on the Vets and drew 2 tactics cards, likely hunting for The Endless Horde. The next turn, the Ranger Vanguards activated. On their roll for Perilous Peaks, they rolled a 1 and lost their turn. A bad start for the Night’s Watch.
After Jon moved around the large rock blocking him from the enemy, the Champion’s Raiders marched forward, threatening Qhorin in the rear. Ghost moved in and attacked them in the flank, doing 3 wounds in the attack and 4 wounds from a failed panic test. Styr claimed the swords and had the Raiders strike back at Ghost, dealing 2 wounds to the direwolf. The Spearwives moved in on Qhorin, the grizzled ranger now surrounded by murderous wildlings.
ROUND 2
The Night’s Watch player used Jon’s tactics card Stand United, Brothers to take 2 models from the Ranger Hunters and fully heal Ghost. Styr claimed the swords, placing his influence on the Spearwives. The Champion’s Raiders attacked Ghost and with sundering from Overwhelming Assault they’re able to destroy the white wolf. 1 to 0 for Rattleshirt.
Jeor claimed the horses next, allowing Jon’s Hunters to maneuver within range of the Champion’s Raiders and use the order Quick Fire. With 5 successful shots in the rear, the unit is destroyed (but no VP are scored because of the Raiders Insignificant rule).
The Spearwives went next, first marking their target and placing a vulnerable token on the Veterans. They threw their spears at the Vets, making them suffer a shocking 4 wounds. They charged in and suffered 2 wounds from the plateau’s rule High Ground. Overwhelming Assault was played yet again, giving the Spearwives critical blow and sundering (from Styr). They did 9 hits against the Veterans (rolling four 6s) and killed the unit (!). Qhorin used To the Last… and he survived!
The Ranger Vanguards, this time actually able to activate, raced around some large rocks and crashed into the Spearwives flank. After the attack, on Ygritte remained, but thanks to the panic token the unit was finished off. 1 to 1 tie game. With 2 dead Free Folk units, the Night’s Watch were turning the momentum in their favour.
Rattleshirt marched on top of the left-side plateau, and the Skinchanger’s Raiders maneuvered behind the safety of a large rock (possibly buying time for reinforcements).
End of round scoring saw each army notch 1 VP from being on a plateau, tying the game up at 2 apiece.
ROUND 3
Jeor claimed the horses, blocking a potential Endless Horde for at least another round. The Hunters maneuvered towards Rattleshirt and used Quick Fire to get 4 hits. The Followers suffered 2 wounds from the shots and 3 more from panic.
The Free Folk player used Regroup and Reform to heal the Followers. They swapped Rattleshirt to the Raiders hiding behind one of the large rocks and the Skinchanger to the Followers on top the plateau (hoping that Stalwart would help with their survivability against Jon and the Hunters). The Raiders were able to heal thanks to the tactics board and Jon got a lacklustre attack against the Followers on top of the plateau before retreating.
After getting their plateau VPs, the game is tied 3 to 3.
ROUND 4
Endless Horde kicked iff the round, returning the Spearwives to their original deployment spot. Having only 1 wound remaining, Qhorin abandoned the plateau and moved to the opposite side, putting the giant mound between himself and the Spearwives.
The Spearwives took the plateau. The Vanguards charged into the Followers of Bone in an attempt to take the other plateau, but they ended up doing more damage to themselves from the plateau and the Follower’s Horrific Visage. Stuck in a bad position, Rattleshirt was able to hit the Vanguards in the flank. They did a few wounds in the attack and 6 wounds when the Vanguards failed their panic test (3 from the roll, 2 from There’s Too Many, and 1 from Intimidating Presence). The Followers got in another attack and finished the mounted rangers off. 4 to 3 for the Free Folk, with end of round scoring bringing the total to 6 to 3.
ROUND 5
Mance hit Qhorin with an early panic check from the crown zone and the Vets surprisingly failed. They then failed their To the Last morale test (with the help of a panic token) to destroy the unit. The score was now 7 to 3. With no way for Jon to get both Free Folk units off the plateaus the game was called and declared a Free Folk victory.
WRAP-UP
It was hard for the Night’s Watch to gain any momentum with only 1 NCU (especially considering there weren't any opportunities for Jeor to use his zone replace effect). The Free Folk player was smart to be patient and wait for Endless Horde to turn the tide. The Perilous Peaks rule only came into effect once (on the very first unit that activated) and didn't really impact the game.
With Qhorin's unit destroyed and Jon’s unit surviving, the scenario played out much like the events of the book. We'll follow the book's lead with Qhorin sacrificing his life to help Jon covertly join the Free Folk. Ygritte will take her prisoner Jon to meet the King Beyond the Wall and the massive army he's amassing. We'll see them again in phase 2 of Campaign of Thrones, which will cover the timeline of A Storm of Swords.