With the Starks and Lannister box sets now released in most territories, the Heroes 3 boxes should not be too far behind. I have already done an article not too long ago about their contents and what could be the rule for each character.
Guest Writer: Carly
However the boxes are slightly underwhelming for new rules; a second Ned Stark, a fourth Robb Stark (if you include the kickstarter exclusive) and the kickstarter only cavalry models of the Blackfish and the Mountain that Rides. There are some characters the community has been crying out for since the beginning, I wanted to highlight some, explain why they should be included and hopefully inspire CMON to add them sooner rather than later.
Starks
Maesters are such a crucial part of the story of A Song of Ice and Fire, they advise some of the most prominent figures and even have some of their own ploys. We currently only have three Maesters in the miniatures game with technically a fourth on the way.
We have Maester Aemon of the Night’s Watch, Grand Maester Pycelle the loyal servant of Tywin Lannister, Maester Wendamyr of House Greyjoy and Qyburn the former Maester. Where is Maester Cressen the one who raised the Baratheon children? What about his replacement Maester Pylos? And the fact that there is no character for Maester Luwin.
Such an influential character with wise advice given to all of the Starks, but most importantly to Bran. His rules should reflect his tutelage to the young lord, but also his ability to truly get through to steadfast and stubborn rulers of Winterfell. In my opinion, he could have an influence ability that allows the unit he is influencing to count as the Commander’s unit in terms of Tactics Cards. No matter the outcome of his abilities, we need Maester Luwin soon.
The Riverlands – (Vance, Tully, Piper)
Stark forces have been spreading the love with representation for the Karstarks and Mormonts starting to grow. Umbers and Reed have some love as well however the Tully’s are now lacking. Seeing how the Riverlands is one of the Kingdoms of Westeros it is pretty annoying that they have two units, and two Commanders. House Tyrell, also being a Kingdom rolled into another faction, has more characters and is about to have more units. So CMON, we need some more Riverland love.
Edmure Tully is the biggest out cry from the community. In the first book he has led more battles than all of the five kings in defence of the Lannister raids. Later he fights off numerous waves of Tywin’s forces to Riverrun. We need two models at the least, a foot and mounted version. As much as Edmure is politically inept, he has succeeded in many battles and thus martially should be quite strong. Perhaps leaning into the defensive side of the Tully rules? Either way he should not be alone.
Lord Vance and Piper were the first to participate in a skirmish under the Golden Tooth. They faced a large host headed by Jamie Lannister who slew Lord Vance and left Karyl Vance as the heir. Karyl shows up often throughout the beginning of the war beside the other Riverlords in the fight against the Lannisters. Others such as Blackwood, Tallhart, Bracken, Piper, Darry, Paege and a big one, House Mallister. There are plenty from these to make a stand alone faction which I believe is the right choice for the future of the Riverlands.
Lannisters
Halfman! Halfman! Halfman!
“Send in the Mountain Clansmen, and feed them to the goats”
“There is no Clansmen halfman”
“So make do” – Cries in Free Folk proxies.
Okay, we could lose it and make several Clansmen units representing the several clans loyal to the Halfman, but I really do think that would be going too far. One unit would be fine and if you do want to expand on it, introduce a heroes box with several of the important clan chiefs. Either way, this is a must needed unit and character spread for the Lannister forces, and I refuse to play any narrative game based around the Blackwater without them. We got Pyromancers but should have got the Clansmen.
House Kettleblack
What a shame that the Kettleblacks were not included in the show, another let down to weaken the perception of Tyrion. To catch you up, in the books Tyrion sent off the Lannister Guards loyal to Cersei so she employs Lancel Lannister (another character missing) to hire some sellswords to replace them. Believing she is protected by people loyal to her she doesn’t question their motives, however the Kettleblacks are actually in Bronn’s pocket, who is in Tyrion’s pocket. Osmund Kettleblack becomes a part of the Kingsguard and is assigned to protect Joffrey, whereas Osfryd Kettleblack becomes the captain of Cersei’s new Red Cloaks (a unit taking the game by storm for the Lannisters currently).
But their father, Oswell Kettleblack, is discovered to be helping Sansa escape and we find out that the Kettleblacks are actually in the employ of Lord Petyr Baelish who had sent the Kettleblack brothers to King’s Landing when Bronn was hiring sellswords for Tyrion, and they have been secretly in his employ all along, unbeknownst to Tyrion and Cersei. The switching of allegiances might mean they are actually perfect for the neutrals but after the trial of Tyrion they work quite closely with Cersei. There is something to be said about having the Kettleblacks be purely Lannisters and might help increase the combat effectiveness of the faction. Wherever their allegiance lies, they must be positioned into the game.
Gold Cloaks and Ironhand
Lannisport City Watch were released before Gold Cloaks were released. How does that make any sense? For a narrative player like me, to not have Gold Cloaks is like walking into a brothel with only a honeycomb and no jackass. It’s not just the Gold Cloaks that are missing, Janos Slynt was a crucial player in ending the life og Ned Stark and should be represented in some manner within the game. Jacelyn Bywater is the character I am most interested in. He is named Commander of the City Watch after Tyrion dismisses Janos Slynt, he got his nickname of Ironhand due to an iron hand strapped to his right wrist where he lost his actual hand and is considered brave and honourable by Varys. He has some awesome moments, like leading a wedge of mounted lancers during the riots in King’s Landing, taking down one of the Kingsguard Boros Blout and seizing Tommen to protect him away from Cersei’s reach which leads to him gaining lordship (another ploy by Tyrion that showed his genius against Cersei that didn’t make it to the show).
As crazy as it sounds, I do think Ironhand could be a Commander. His cards will play like an honourable strategic player of the game of thrones. He will be an aggressive Commander but also capable of keeping people in their place, thinking like a cross between the Mountain and Jamie. An attachment version of Ironhand might have a great rule on him, something along the lines of “Honourable but hated” to represent that the Gold Cloaks actually didn’t like him and one arrow to his throat was enough to drag him down and kill him. This could be similar to the attachment for Daario Naharis where he gives a buff but 1’s on the hit roll cause a wound to the unit. Maybe it could be a hand for a hand, a bodyguard-like rule that represents how his iron hand inspired Jamie to wear a gold hand.
There are plenty of characters missing models and rules from the game which I am excited to see. Although we may get restless waiting on our favourite to make their debut on the table, it shows us that the game’s lifespan is a lot longer than most might think. Whilst we wait for the new releases we can make some new lists based on the balance changes for 2022, the War Council App is not updated however the folks over at ASOIAF-Stats.com have updated their builder and now you can search for lists made by other people more effectively, do check it out.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
