Exhausted from their travels, Bran, Hodor, Jojen, and Meera found refuge in the Queenscrown Tower, an abandoned holdfast in the middle of a lake. Though the tower sheltered them from an oncoming storm, a more pernicious danger approached from the north: an invading Wildling party led by the Magnar of Thenn, joined by the spearwife Ygritte and the covert crow Jon Snow. As lightning crashed and thunder boomed, Hodor cried out in fear. His bellows echoed out the tower window, alerting the Wildlings below.
Jon Snow knew something: this was the moment to break free from Ygritte and the Wildling party, to escape to Castle Black and warn his Night’s Watch brothers about Mance Rayder and the Thenns. What Jon didn’t know was that in the nearby Queenscrown Tower sat his brother from Winterfell. As thunder clapped and Hodor hodored, Jon met Ygritte’s eye. The thunder rolled again and faded up into the sky. Then all they heard was the sound of rain slapping against the mud… and the snarl of an angry direwolf.
The Story
"Bran Stark, Hodor, and Meera Reed and Jojen Reed stay overnight at Queenscrown on their march to the Wall. While they wait out a storm, a northman passing through arrives and stays in the ruined village to also wait out the storm. The wildling party which includes Jon Snow arrives and captures the man, however. Although Jon balks at killing the stranger, Ygritte kills the man anyway."
Gameplay & Strategy
The Queenscrown custom scenario focuses heavily on risk versus reward. The Lake Terrain piece that helps you accumulate Victory Points can also swallow up your soldiers, causing D3 Wounds when you Activate.
A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game rules are streamlined and easy to pick-up, yet the game offers tremendous variety through the various factions and commanders. This scenario is a good example of this diversity as the Night’s Watch and Free Folk are forced to use their signature strategies to survive both the ice-cold water and each others greatswords & bone-hammers… or whatever the Free Folk are using to bludgeon their enemies these days.
The Free Folk will likely cross the treacherous Lake first and claim the Objective tokens. Luckily the Free Folk are accustomed to losing troops, whether by drowning here or the usual Wound parades, so the Lake damage won't bother them too much. If the Night’s Watch forces you to lose an Objective token via a Panic Test or demolishes your Objective holding Raiders, you can always throw more bodies at the Tower.
The Night’s Watch must heal as much as possible, as their numbers are limited and any Wounds they suffer are way more detrimental. There is also the Lost Prince of Winterfell unit, which could be a boon in combat but may be too valuable in the endgame scoring to send against your enemy. Again, risk versus reward.
A player could technically grab the Objective tokens and cower in the corner until making a dash for the Lake in Round 6, but I don't think that would be a winning strategy. If your Free Folk opponent does this, you can zap them with Panic Tests from the Tactics Board. If they fail the test they'll be forced to return the token to the Queenscrown Tower. If the Night's Watch player runs and hides, you can maneuver across the table and terribly outnumber their remaining units, gaining Victory Points along the way.
This is a fan-made scenario inspired by CMON Limited’s A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game and is in no way associated with CMON.
