The London Grand Tournament saw thousands of gamers gather to play their favourite tabletop games to test their skills. I attended the A Song Of Ice And Fire: Miniatures Game event organised by Yecats Miniatures with my Martell force. I will be breaking down my experience of the event as well as sitting down with the top 3 players to discuss their lists in detail.
My Lists – Oberyn Martell and Daemon Sand
Commander: Oberyn Martell – Prince of Dorne
- Sunspear Royal Guard ( 7 )
Oberyn Martell – Prince of Dorne ( 0 )
Edric Dayne – Lord of Starfall ( 1 )
- Skyreach Bowmen ( 6 )
Spearlord ( 1 )
- Sand Skirmishers ( 7 )
Spearlord ( 1 )
- Darkstar Retinue ( 7 )
High Hermitage Sentinel ( 1 )
Non Combat Units
- Ellaria Sand ( 4 )
- Arianne Martell ( 5 )
- Petyr Baelish ( 4 )
The best commander in the Martell faction by a wide margin is Oberyn Martell. He provides the player with additional debuffing tactics cards which further exacerbates the opponent. Usually Martell players run him with double Sand Skirmishers but I wanted to try out other options. The Darkstar Retinue is my rouge choice in this list since they are a swingy unit, either they are the deciding factor in the list or I would have been better off bringing anything else, the event is my chance to try out some strategies and figure out how to use them. My aim is to debuff, then pile on to problem units. Arianne should turn off any problematic character, whilst Petyr plays defence on blocking zones.
My route to victory is to gain the advantage on board control by removing the opponents ace, I intend to use this against 4 combat unit lists with elite units like Baratheons and Greyjoys. My only concerns are if all the units are threats in the opposing list, or if the opponent can catch my forces since my defences are not the best. I haven’t played Oberyn a lot, so my inexperience with utilising his cards may come into play.
Commander: Daemon Sand – Vengeful Knight
- Martell Spearmen ( 5 )
Daemon Sand – Vengeful Knight ( 0 )
- Sunspear Dervishes ( 6 )
Oberyn Martell – The Snake ( 2 )
Edric Dayne – Lord of Starfall ( 1 )
- Skyreach Bowmen ( 6 )
Spearlord ( 1 )
- Starfall Outriders ( 6 )
- Stormcrow Mercenaries ( 5 )
Daario Naharis – Reckless Mercenary ( 1 )
Non Combat Units
- Ellaria Sand ( 4 )
- Petyr Baelish ( 4 )
- Doran Martell ( 4 )
Daemon Sand is one of my favourite characters in the books sporting a tactical mind that can best some of the better schemers at play. Daemon’s cards give him an edge to set-up a trap or further your position for a surgical strike. Bringing on the Skyreach Bowmen and then immediately attacking with them using A Need For Vengeance can be a nail in the coffin. Equally, Coordinated Plotting can push a unit into a flank or rear position to threaten the opponent. I wanted an 8 activation list with some cheap but effective units to face off against opponents.
Stormcrow Mercenaries are really good right now especially when they gain keywords and healing from Daario. They should go toe-to-toe with any 5pts unit and even some 6pts or 7pts units. Skyreach Bowmen are an obvious choice here as previously mentioned, but I followed this up with the often overlooked Sunspear Dervishes, which with Oberyn get a lot of buffs if the opposing unit hasn’t activated. It is another option for A Need For Vengeance but also they can hit hard whilst being difficult to shut down with the retreat mechanics.
Martell Spearmen are trash, but Tactical Reposition is very useful for getting the aces into better positions. Plus with Daemon they may get two Rally Cry effects off for some healing thanks to Set For Charge. Starfall Outriders give me the mobility I am missing from Darkstar Retinue or Sand Skirmishers whilst also hitting decently hard for light cavalry and another Rally Cry. I am hoping this list will perform as an attrition list fighting over objectives, but again if I am caught I may struggle to get out of it.
Game 1 – Glake’s Jon Snow
Commander: Jon Snow – 998th Lord Commander
- Ranger Hunters ( 7 )
Jon Snow – 998th Lord Commander ( 0 )
- Veterans of the Watch ( 7 )
Watch Captain ( 2 )
Satin – Brave Recruit ( 1 )
- Ranger Vanguards ( 7 )
Coldhands – Former Crow ( 1 )
- Ranger Trackers ( 6 )
Non Combat Units
- Aemon ( 4 )
- Ser Denys Mallister ( 4 )
- Othell Yarwyck ( 5 )
What are the odds? The first game of the EAGT was against George and his Starks; now at the LGT and we are head-to-head again. However, this time we are both rocking new forces with George bringing the Night’s Watch and myself seeking vengeance with Martells. Since the days of Mance Rayder, I have always been concerned about Quick Fire from the Ranger Hunters who can shut down units in one go with relative ease. I had to bring Arianne to turn that off completely which meant I was running the Oberyn list. I was not the only one with a NCU looking to make their mark on the battlefield.
Othell spent most of the game targeting the Darkstar Retinue due to their low armour save, on top of this I failed a lot of 5+ morale on them leaving them a few wounds from being taken out more than once. Fortunately we were playing Game of Thrones and the objective they were near on the left side of the battlefield had the healing effect. So for the whole game they had to sit and heal out of the Othell damage. There was a brief scuffle with the Veterans of the Watch and I survived on a wound by the skin of my teeth. But the vets had other pressing matters to worry about.
Since we both had an outflanking unit the beginning of the game was cagey with positioning to counter each other’s reserved unit. George brought his Ranger Vanguard on first into the middle due to my units hammering the Ranger Trackers who were playing the center objective. We just took them down when the Vanguard started imposing themselves, they instead decided to loop around my units to take the right objective on my side whilst I held the middle, Jon was holding his own right side objective at this point as well. Could Ranger Hunters and Vanguard with Jon and Coldhands take on Oberyn Royal Guard?
My plan to win the game was forming. I needed to hold the middle with the Royal Guard, whilst my Skyreach Bowmen dealt out a number on the Vanguard, hopefully reducing them by a rank to make them think twice about trying to engage otherwise the Royal Guard would finish them. If the Sand Skirmishers needed to assist then my own Quick Fire could help out. But they needed to deal with the Vets to secure my rear since the Retinue was struggling to hold the left flank. My biggest concern was the Vanguard barreling in and taking down the Bowmen before I could do enough work, furthermore, Jon was still staring me down with the Ranger Hunters. If George was to ramp up the pressure then something was surely going to give.
George pulled back, biding his time, and banking on the Vets breaking through and becoming a thorn I would need to deal with whilst he would either over take on points or hammer me from the other side. But the hefty damage from the Skyreach Bowmen put the Vanguard in a position where they did not want to push their luck, Jon did not see a way to cut through the Royal Guard, and the Sand Skirmishers shut down the Vets. Eventually the Skyreach Bowmen ended the Vanguard leaving Jon’s Ranger Hunters left. If George was one dice more fortunate with Othell or the Veterans, then the Retinue would be dead and I would have a serious problem in my rear whilst staring down another in the front. It was just enough of a delay that squeaked me an advantage. We are now a game each from events so we will have to settle the score at the next one!
Game 2 – Mr Ray’s Eldon Estermont
Commander: Eldon Estermont – Lord of Greenstone
- Baratheon Halberdiers ( 6 )
Eldon Estermont – Lord of Greenstone ( 0 )
- Thorn Watch ( 6 )
Parmen Crane – Parmen the Purple ( 1 )
- Rose Knights ( 7 )
Robar Royce – Robar the Red ( 1 )
- Stag Knights ( 7 )
Cortnay Penrose – Loyal Tactician ( 2 )
Non Combat Units
- Olenna Tyrell ( 5 )
- Alester Florent ( 4 )
- Walder Frey ( 5 )
Mr Ray is an incredible Baratheon player and just like with my first round opponent we have played before. A Ribble Rumble event is where we first clashed and he took down my Neutrals with ease using a double Stag Knight list. I was very concerned with his double King’s Men list as I do not know if I have enough power to punch through To The Last twice over, but Ray chose his Eldon Estermont list which gave me the advantage. If I could get Rising Temperatures or the Manticore Venom off on the right unit, then all the healing will be prevented. We are playing Winds of Winter though so the route to victory is going to be difficult but I should be able to mess with the tactics board.
The biggest threat was the Stag Knights with Cortnay Penrose. I didn’t need a high quality unit that is tough to kill and auto charging 6 in the game threatening me, so Arianne was on Cortnay babysitting duty when I was able to use her as Olena turned her off when she could. The other threat was the Rose Knights, they would land on the middle point looking to score from the center objective, but can become an issue if I put myself in striking range. The only way I could win is by taking down one or two of his units and looking to out score him in the holding objectives cards, I could also play the tactics board with plenty of cards scoring from there.
The game started off really well for me, I managed to cause enough damage on the Stag Knights that they pulled back, hoping to join the game again with an auto 6 charge at some point. Luckily, with Arianne, Petyr, and a Rising Temperatures, I was able to keep them away for long enough, but I did take some damage on the other side. I got really lucky with the Darkstar Retinue which helped Oberyn take out the Thorn Watch early on using Manticore Venom to ensure no healing. The Retinue then launched into the Rose Knights to tie up scoring so that Ray couldn’t take a lead in points, whilst the Halberdiers flanked around the left side of the board into Oberyn.
By the start of Round 4, we had dodged giving each other points from the cards and it was 0-0. But the cards now coming out would mean there would be some scoring. Oberyn got hit hard by the Halberdiers throughout Round 4 and 5, but was in a position to take them out at the beginning of turn 6. My Sand Skirmishers gave the central units some issues whilst they positioned themselves to fallback to my right objective, and the Skyreach Bowmen did the same from the opponents right side objective. If I could take down the Halberdiers and then march/Cunning Ploy Oberyn onto the left side objective, I could outscore Ray with the point per objective card. But there was a problem.
Coming to the end of Round 5 it was 2-3 to myself, Ray could play the card to score a point and become first player which would result in either healing Eldon or using him to try and take out Oberyn. If he succeeded in surviving or delaying Oberyn it could be game. So I took a position on the board which due to the cards scored Ray a point tying the game. This meant I was going first and could enact my plan. If Ray foresaw this then he could have taken a zone on the board to increase my lead giving him an advantage in the next Round. Oberyn killed Eldon from the Sword Zone, surged forward out of charge range, and then marched onto the objective. Skyreach Bowmen and Sand Skirmishes moved back out of range of charges and took their objectives giving me the lead. The game was super close and so intense that I forgot to take shots throughout the game. Just like with George, me and Ray are now 1-1 for games and we will need to settle the score in the next event.
Game 3 – Naz’s Victarion Greyjoy
Commander: Victarion Greyjoy – The Iron Captain
- Iron Victory Crew ( 6 )
Victarion Greyjoy – The Iron Captain ( 0 )
Reaver Captain ( 1 )
- Iron Victory Crew ( 6 )
Nute – The Barber ( 1 )
- Ironmakers ( 7 )
Asha Greyjoy – Lady Greyjoy ( 1 )
Qarl – Asha’s Champion ( 1 )
- Hedge Knights ( 7 )
Non Combat Units
- Rodrik Harlaw ( 4 )
- Balon Greyjoy ( 6 )
- Wendamyr ( 4 )
Final game of the first day and we are up against Naz who is a really good player and went all the way to the finals at the event. I was worried about Greyjoys due to Balon since you need to put a lot of work in to remove Victarion’s unit only for it to return in your flank for you to do it all over again. I did not have a good enough plan to deal with Balon, but the four combat unit list Naz was running with a Hedge Knight made me feel like I could gain an edge. However, with it being Honed and Ready I was not going to have a chance at playing the mission since Martells cannot last long on objectives in this game mode. I would need to out-kill the killy faction.
There isn’t much to say about the game as it went exactly how you expect. Victarion outflanked and I had to turn to deal with him whilst dishing out some hurt on the Hedge Knights which went for the middle. The other Greyjoy units stuck to a flank and were too far away to do much damage at this stage. Once Victarion was gone he showed up again in the same place and we had to repeat, just with weaker units and less resources. I did manage to take out the Hedge Knights and put the Darkstar Retinue in a position to possibly overrun Asha and Nute, both were softened up by my other forces. Victarion was running a muck in my back lines and I did not have the time or resources to turn everything around and deal with him. I needed to succeed in the overrun or lose.
I just failed to kill Asha’s Ironmakers who left two wounds. I should have done Scout Openings for a reroll as I lost rerolls from going over a corpse pile, I dropped too many hits and the gambit failed. Naz then cleaned me up. I didn’t enjoy the game at all mainly because it felt like it was over based on a few decisions. If Naz didn’t have Balon then this game would have been difficult when he was down to two units vs four by mid-game. Balon is so important for Greyjoys to compete at a higher level. But for the opponent they have to put in a lot of work to deal with this one NCU. You can not kill stuff and win on objectives but it is tough to do this against Victarion since he gives Greyjoys good movement with a lot of threat. Trying to outscore would have been difficult as I am just as weak as Greyjoys but have very little healing like they do, without the right debuffs it wouldn’t work.
In the end I am proud of my performance. If Balon could not bring back an entire high quality unit with decent attachments including a commander to take advantage of commander cards, then Naz would have had two weakened units with most of mine bearing down upon them. It is hard to see how I could have lost if Balon didn’t exist. But at the same time, I do not believe people would be throwing away Victarion if they could not bring him back. You would have a few more points and likely use them to split the Hedge Knights into two units, it’s just a different game at that point. Something needs to be done about Balon so that people playing against him don’t have a bad experience and those using him don’t have to rely on him for a chance. Naz is a great player and he proves it at this event whilst showing me how tough Greyjoys can be.
Game 4 – Ric’s Eddard Stark
Commander: Eddard Stark – Lord of Winterfell
- Eddard’s Honor Guard ( 6 )
Eddard Stark – Lord of Winterfell ( 0 )
Crannogman Survivalist – Infantry ( 1 )
- House Umber Greataxes ( 7 )
Winterfell Champion – Infantry ( 0 )
- Stark Bowmen ( 6 )
Crannogman Warden ( 1 )
- House Mormont Bruisers ( 6 )
Rickon Stark – Prince of Winterfell ( 1 )
Osha – Spearwife Guardian ( 0 )
- Shaggydog ( 3 )
Non Combat Units
- Arya Stark ( 4 )
- Lord Varys ( 4 )
- Sansa Stark ( 4 )
Enemy Attachments
- Jaqen H’ghar ( 1 )
One of my favourite games from the EAGT was against Wayne and his Brotherhood. The first game of the second day was against Ric’s Starks from the same gaming group as Wayne and I could not be more excited to play against them. Starks have fallen off in popularity in the UK event scene and I would assume this is due to fatigue since you can only play Tully Cavaliers enough times before they become stale. It has been nice seeing other lists being brought out for Stark players so they can enjoy the game more without being pushed into a specific design.
We played Here We Stand which is a tough mission since it is all about killing your opponent. You are rewarded victory points for killing units whilst having more points on the board to gain more victory points from the objective, it favours a force better at killing. Whoever starts to lose units first is likely to lose the game unless you are trading kills. I need to pick my fights and pile on as best as I can, but the most important aspect is to not get caught and then bogged down. I believed Oberyn was the right choice since the extra debuffs would help me, but Daemon would have allowed more units on the table for me to utilise in killing as well as the objective
The match was quick. I failed to do significant damage to both the Greataxes and Eddard’s Honor Guard which pushed forward despite my lethality. This meant the Greataxes caught my Skyreach Bowmen when I brought them on and the Honour Guard caught my Darkstar Retinue. I couldn’t get out of the fight to set up my retaliation and I crumbled to the opposing forces. Oberyn did manage to deal with Shaggydog and loop around to deal with the Bruisers, but by this point I had then lost the Sand Skirmishers to the remaining Starks. In the end if I could have out manoeuvred the Starks I may have survived long enough to turn the tide, but as soon as I whiffed with my Bowmen and got caught it was over.
I chose Oberyn for this match but I do believe this was my biggest mistake in the end. There was some bad luck on my side with rolls and card draw, but I played very poorly with my positioning and it resulted in myself getting caught whilst being unable to get out of the combat. Daemon would have given me an extra attack with the Bowmen to hammer a nail into a weakened unit, whilst also providing more movement and damage. The extra unit on the table may have also given me an edge without dropping an NCU for zone control and activation play. It was a tough game mode and match up, but I learnt a lot from the game. Plus Ric was a great opponent to play against with a lot of laughs during the game.
Game 5 – Shaun’s Davos Seaworth
Commander: Davos Seaworth – Hero of Blackwater
- R’hllor Lightbringers ( 6 )
Davos Seaworth – Hero of Blackwater ( 0 )
Bryen Farring – King’s Squire ( 1 )
- Crownland Scouts ( 6 )
Fortune Seeker ( 1 )
- Baratheon Halberdiers ( 6 )
Andrew Estermont – True Loyalist ( 1 )
- Dragonstone Noble ( 4 )
- House Bolton Cutthroats ( 5 )
Dale Seaworth – Captain of the Wraith ( 1 )
Non Combat Units
- Axell Florent ( 4 )
- Patchface ( 4 )
- Petyr Baelish ( 4 )
Earlier this year I visited Leeds and played in the 50pts tournament with my opening game being against Shaun. We had an incredibly close game between Baratheons and Neutrals with him winning so it is time to tie it all up. At that event the game with Shaun was by far my favourite and this one was no different as he brings out Davos against Daemon in Dance of Dragons.
The plan here was to grab the objectives and back off which I should be able to do with ease thanks to Martells being faster than Baratheons. Daemon grabbed the middle, Oberyn grabbed the left flank, and the Halberdiers grabbed the right flank. Throughout the majority of the game Shaun chose to ignore Oberyn’s unit and I spent most of my time slowly bringing them to the center where the fighting was. Shaun bullied the Spearmen with his cavalry and Bolton Cutthroats and it became a slog to keep them around with my cavalry backing them up. The Halberdiers had a face off with the Stormcrow Mercenaries as Davos shows up with his Lightbringers in the right hand corner.
The Lightbringers brought some hurt, but I was able to get the Stormcrows turned around and engaged with the Lightbringers whilst the Halberdiers slowly tried to catch up. Davos was able to slip away however, but was then caught in a duel with my Skyreach Bowmen coming on from my table edge. The fight mostly took place in the right hand corner of the game with our bowmen taking shots at other units rather than each other.
Throughout the game we would go back and forth on holding 1-2 objectives making it tied most of the time, whilst also losing a lot of units. I survived with a few wounds on multiple units but Davos had gotten out of the mosh pit and was holding the center objective with the Dragonstone Noble coming in to assist. However, Oberyn had joined the fight to help with the Crownland Scouts, and then punished the Noble. The game ended as I hit 10 points with Davos being the only one left with Oberyn in his rear fully functional, and a wounded Daario holding on the flank. It was a close game but with a lot of back and forth, which made it a lot of fun.
At the Leeds event Shaun did love to use Patchface but didn’t get any cards discarded, his luck changed and got some great cards from me like Rising Temperatures. He managed to shut down my cards from making a big impact on the game, whilst I shut down his control of the crown, blunting his attacks and defences. I was blown away with how slippery Davos turned out to be but also how survivable since he was able to go into the fray and live. Looking forward to playing Shaun again in the future with another person setting a record at 1-1 at events.
Game 6 – Orgmo’s Loras Tyrell
Commander: Loras Tyrell – The Knight of Flowers
- Thorn Watch ( 6 )
Loras Tyrell – The Knight of Flowers ( 0 )
- Rose Knights ( 7 )
Cortnay Penrose – Loyal Tactician ( 2 )
- Riders of Highgarden ( 6 )
Glory Seeker ( 1 )
- Golden Company Crossbowmen ( 7 )
Pikeman Captain ( 1 )
Non Combat Units
- Olenna Tyrell ( 5 )
- Shyra Errol ( 4 )
- Lord Varys ( 4 )
The final game was against Pascal’s Baratheons led by Loras Tyrell. We have played before a while ago with two different armies so it is nice to have another game with Pascal, the last one saw him win but it was a fun matchup between Rattleshirt and my pure Bloody Mummers force. This time though it would be the might of Highgarden against Daemon Sand’s rogues in a Game of Thrones game mode.
Just like with Ray’s Baratheons, I was concerned about Cortnay Penrose and a surprise auto six charge, I looked to turn this off as many times as I could, holding the crown zone and keeping the Rose Knights locked out, and as always on the middle objective. Pascal leaned towards the right flank with his remaining infantry and I prepared to face off against them. Daemon and Daario were going to push as far as we could to eventually tie up that side and Pascal played expecting the Bowmen on the flank. I was a little careless with my positioning which opened up volleys from the Golden Company Crossbowmen into the Stormcrow Mercenaries.
Oberyn pushed far up the left flank protected by a palisade from the Riders of Highgarden, who decided to bide their time on the other objective on the other side of the wall. At the end of Round 2 I destroyed the palisade and pushed the Starfall Outriders up to collapse on to the riders at the beginning of the next turn. This is when I brought the Skyreach Bowmen on from my table edge to shoot down the Rose Knights. However, things went wrong.
Oberyn after three attacks from the tactics zones and activation could not hit to save his life and even with the backup of the Outriders only barely killed the Riders of Highgarden. It was a lot of activations wasting time that allowed for Cortny Penrose and the Rose Knights to Tactical Reposition up and auto charge into my Skyreach Bowmen. It was a brutal turning of the tables since the Golden Company Crossbowmen and Thorn Watch hammered the Stormcrow Mercenaries and I made a stupid decision to attack whilst they had Overgrowth.
The game had swung to me only having Martell Spearmen to hold the right flank and middle from all three remaining Highgarden units who swiftly removed him from the game. I was left with a few options and collapsed onto the Rose Knights with everything. If I could remove that unit, then Oberyn and the Outriders should be able to deal with the rest before Pascal reaches 10 victory points, we were looking for a wipe out. However, Cortnay lasted too long and lived with just him remaining, delaying my forces and him taking the victory. A few mistakes and bad roles cost me dearly and sealed my fate.
That ends my run with the Martells with three wins and three losses, but better than I have done with Neutrals for a while. Oberyn is great but I will need to play him more to understand the right moments to utilise his cards, but I had more fun playing with Daemon than I ever did with Oberyn. Darkstar Retinue and Sunspear Dervishes have their place in the faction but you need to play them perfectly for them to be effective. The movement on both units was the highlight but there were times where they took too much damage and with little healing it meant they were glorified objective holders. Sand Skirmishers and Skyreach Bowmen are amazing, and a lot of the time I wondered if I should have just spammed these units. They are far too good whilst everything else struggles to shine. I look forward to exploring the faction further.
Top 3 Players
3rd – Joe McCarthy’s Khal Drogo
Commander: Khal Drogo – The Great Khal
- Drogo’s Bloodriders ( 8 )
Khal Drogo – The Great Khal ( 0 )
- Dothraki Outriders ( 6 )
Rakharo – Bloodrider ( 1 )
- Dothraki Screamers ( 6 )
Jorah Mormont – The Exiled Knight ( 1 )
- House Bolton Bastard’s Girls ( 7 )
Grey Worm – Freed By The Dragon ( 2 )
Non Combat Units
- Mirri Maz Duur ( 4 )
- Barristan Selmy ( 5 )
- Lord Varys ( 4 )
Joe has been playing ASOIAF for around 18 months and started with the Baratheon Faction. Joe moved away from Baratheons after Season 6 due to having some issues with how the attachment system works for them, and ended up picking Targaryens to play with throughout this season.
Joe played with Khal Drogo for all of the games at the event without using Bloodrider spam which has been the focus of some outrage in the game at the moment. The list was inspired by Mikel’s lists for Targaryens where the Bloodrider unit is utilised due to the changes to Assault Orders. Beric, Cotter Pyke, and Victarion are some fo the few commanders in the game with thai card which were hit by the change of lowest attack dice, but the Bloodriders go from 7 to 6 dice so it doesn’t hit them as much as if Drogo was in Screamers for example.
You can also take Rakharo in addition to the Bloodrider unit who is the best of the Bloodrider attachments thanks to Sentinel. Joe does feel like the attachments should be 2pts though as they get a lot of buffs for one. He does believe most people who play Dothraki lists fall into the trap of playing too aggressively. They are a control list where you can use the mobility of the cavalry to get away from the opponent once you are up on points. Having them get into prolonged engagements is a big mistake so don’t play them for killing your foe.
The most interesting piece of the list is the Bastard’s Girls. Joe was debating about replacing them with Vets by trading out Selmy for a cheaper NCU but Selmy is just too good to pass on him. Instead you get Grey Worm who can keep the Dothraki units alive with the Rally Cry as the change from one to two ranks can mean a lot for the Screamers, plus Jorah can help the Bastard’s Girls to keep up with the army’s speed using Tactical Reposition – an often overshadowed ability.
I asked Joe why he did not play Skahaz throughout the event; he mentioned that he struggled over the last six months with Greyjoys, who are tough for Targaryen players to face. He even mentioned his game with Jacob’s Greyjoys at the Welsh GT which traumatised him. He still believed the list needed more work but it was his Greyjoy counter.
Joe’s favourite game was against Mr Ray in the first round which was his only loss of the event. Even though he knows the Baratheon faction quite well he was so obsessed with stopping sentinel that he should have been preventing the Final Strike on Drogo. Due to this Drogo died. Joe realised he was not going to win on points so had to kill the enemy forces, but this was against double King’s Men. With Ray denying as many attacks as possible he ended up surviving with three models left with Joe saying he deserved the win from successfully denying him the attacks.
I asked Joe what is the one thing he knows now that he wished he knew when he first played. Joe’s advice is that it’s fine to lose and to enjoy the game since you will learn a lot in time. 90% of the time you just need to understand all the triggers and when to play yours, this will make you a much better player.
Joe did also want to mention that the community is unbelievably lucky to have Grant from Yecats Miniatures organise events for us across the UK. He works so hard and wishes he would play more, especially because Joe wants to play him!
2nd – Lucas Eden’s One True King Stannis
Commander: Renly Baratheon – King in the South
- Rainbow Guard ( 6 )
Renly Baratheon – King in the South ( 0 )
- Stormcrow Archers ( 6 )
Pikeman Captain ( 1 )
- Highgarden Pikemen ( 5 )
Cortnay Penrose – Loyal Tactician ( 1 )
- Baratheon Sentinels ( 5 )
Master Warden ( 1 )
- Baratheon Sentinels ( 5 )
Master Warden ( 1 )
Non Combat Units
- Alester Florent ( 4 )
- Olenna Tyrell ( 5 )
- Lord Varys ( 4 )
Commander: Stannis Baratheon – The One True King
- King’s Men ( 7 )
Stannis Baratheon – The One True King ( 0 )
- R’hllor Lightbringers ( 6 )
Davos Seaworth – Onion Knight ( 1 )
- R’hllor Lightbringers ( 6 )
Bryen Farring – King’s Squire ( 1 )
- Crownland Scouts ( 6 )
Dragonstone Noble ( 1 )
- Baratheon Halberdiers ( 6 )
Stag Knight Noble ( 1 )
Non Combat Units
- Melisandre ( 5 )
- Petyr Baelish ( 4 )
Lucas has been playing ASOIAF for a few years and has gathered hundreds of games under his belt. He meets with his club, the Sherwood Brotherhood, every week for a few games. His favourite faction is Baratheons, but he did play Boltons for a bit as well as Neutrals. But the Baratheons have a vibe he likes as well as the aesthetic of them. A lot of his favourite characters from the story come from Stannis’ camp.
Lucas believes that Baratheons are struggling to make a lot of lists where they utilise the better attachments, which matches what Joe has said about them as well. Lucas says that Lightbringers are the strongest Baratheon unit, especially when you pair them with an attachment with True Conviction which has had a crazy change making them far better. No other ranged unit could compete with them in a duel when you hold the crown zone.
King’s men overrated according to Lucas, with this likely being because of the Brotherhood Without Banners. But Lucas utilised them with Melisandre to use them as a ranged platform as everyone gives them a wide berth. They also heal from the morale check balancing out the wounds you deal to them and they protect a flank for the Lightbringers. He also likes to use Melisandre to give the Crownland Scouts the R’hllor keyword for some cards which can make them a surprising lethal unit.
Lucas did end up using his second list for playing against Targaryens which is the biggest threat to his Lightbringers list. The Renly list is all built around the Over Confidence card, which you can use after a cava;ry maneuver which can stop Quick Fire for example. On top of this, you have two Sentinel units, both with Wardens to work with Over Confidence. Not much can survive all the hits. Cortnay Penrose is far too good for Renly due to the underappreciated Tactical Reposition which can get the Sentinels or Over Confidence cards into range.
Lucas did want to shout out 5th place Angus who did great but lost to Jacob’s Greyjoys/ Lucas saw Greyjoys as a big threat and even lost to Jacob’s Greyjoys in the Hand’s Tourney (pre-event invitational for GT winners). The threat that greyjoys bring is trading a unit with the Baratheons then bringing it back, it can be difficult to prevent it from happening.
I asked Lucas what is the one thing he knows now that he wished he knew when he first played. Lucas believes that utility units can make games, Tactical Reposition is a big reason why he has won so many games. He would also recommend not playing a stereotypical Baratheon list which is sitting on objectives and grinding away, it is better to apply plenty of pressure all the time which is what the Stannis list is all about, full of threat.
1st – Micky Arnold’s Varamyr Sixskins
Commander: Varamyr Sixskins – Master Skinchanger
- Varamyr Sixskins – Master Skinchanger ( 7 )
- Shadowcat ( 2 )
- Wolf Pack ( 3 )
- Bonelord’s Chosen ( 6 )
Rattleshirt – Ruthless Slaughterer ( 2 )
Harma’s Bannerman ( 1 )
- Thenn Warriors ( 5 )
Harma – The Dogshead ( 2 )
- Free Folk Raiders ( 4 )
Borroq – Boar Skinchanger ( 2 )
- Free Folk Raiders ( 4 )
Walrus Clan Chieftain ( 1 )
- Borroq’s Boar ( 0 )
Non Combat Units
- Lady Val ( 4 )
- Craster ( 4 )
- Jon Snow ( 4 )
Mickey has been playing this game for a long time and is renowned for his YouTube channel about the game; Tourney Ground. He is also well known for his main army Free Folk which he pilots so effortlessly towards the top tables. However he does dabble in playing other factions from time to time. Mickey loves playing the game, and loves nothing more than playing Harma in Free Folk.
Mickey played his Varamyr list for the whole event due to believing it is one of the only ways to play Free Folk well at the moment. Other commanders are not effective as a viable horde army due to the current pass token mechanics. His biggest threat is eight activation Victarion lists which are terrifying for Varamyr. Varamyr solo is not a good investment at 3 points for activations and is far too weak for what you spend. Instead spend these flex points on more attachments to boost your units in a ten activation list led by Varamyr who can also bring some back. He is the best horde commander without limiting your options.
Mickey did reveal that his second list was for two gamemodes, Here We Stand + Honed and Ready. However, he chose not to use them since he was looking at facing Martells which is not fun when playing giants into Sand Skirmishers. He was also looking at Greyjoys who are can openers for monsters.. But in the end the Varamyr list was better. If he went up against Starks though he may have played Mag.
Mickey believed he could still improve as he needed to trust in his own instincts rather than breaking down the opposition. Whilst he may know Free Folk inside and out which means it is less taxing at events, he still gets worried sometimes when a strong list is put down across from him. Mickey always looks to play around terrain, whilst searching for weaknesses such as Naz’s lack of ranged units or Lucas’ 2 NCUs. The toughest game for Mickey was against Lucas in the fifth game due to the amount of pressure Lucas put on Mickey and came down to taking the token at the right time. Mickey also teased me when I asked him what would be next and all he had to say was “Harma’s Vanguard. No spoilers.”
I asked Mickey what is the one thing he knows now that he wished he knew when he first played. Mickey said he struggled with Free Folk when he first started and used to lose a lot since he didn’t understand how to do well with them. Winning the game is not about killing your opponent, winning is getting to ten points, if you find your route to ten points you will win. When you start a game you should think about your route to ten rather than how to beat the opponent.
Mickey also wanted to mention that events aren’t scary and the vast majority are not there to win, but are there to play and enjoy the game. No one is going with the expectation to win and the event as it is a celebration of the game and people coming together to play. The community is welcoming and we all love new people. Winning is something we want to do, but it is not the reason we play.
That is our top three players from the London Grand Tournament. I want to say a massive shout out to Grant from Yecats Miniatures who ran the event for us. It is people like him that encourage the community to come together and keep it alive by enjoying this little game we love. Grant has been organising events in the UK for a while and has managed to make ASOIAF:TMG one of the biggest parts of the LGT.
This event was incredible and it certainly made me want to play more. Generally after events you are burnt out and want a break, but immediately I was playing another game and coming up with ways to improve what I brought. That feeling is due to how awesome the community is, and it is events like the LGT that brings us all together.
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