Well well well, what do we have here? The UK is not last in getting a release for A Song of Ice and Fire, furthermore is the first to get the release! Let’s not waste anytime diving into the new Heroes Boxes that will shake up the game. We will be only going through some of the characters in each box that are highlights of the release as there is too much to talk about in one article, however you can be assured this is only the beginning of diving into new players in the Game of Thrones.
Starks
Robb Stark, King in the North
Eddard Stark, Hand of the King
Lyanna Mormont
Maege Mormont
Rickard Karstark
Brynden Tully Mounted
With the recent points changes to Ned to 6pts, we haven’t seen him backing the political game for a long while. But with glorious artwork and a glow up fit for the Hand of the King Ned has had a glow up in looks and rules. His whole gimmick is to counter NCUs and their plots, his stoic refusal to give in to threats and unwavering commitment to honour is the inspiration for the rules. Being able to shut off any amount of healing from the Tactics board or NCUs like Cortnay can be critical. How about preventing Tywin in that crucial turn he wants to act? Or prevent a unit being bombarded by Othell? Ned is a versatile and defensive king, or should I say Hand of the King.
It was looking really ropey to whether we would get a Mormont Commander in the Heroes Box, most believed that the new Robb was going to be a commander. However, variety won the day with pure Mormont and Karstark armies now possible. Commander Mormont is a defensive beast, Support of Bear Island for a strong heal, Sustained Assault to keep the damaged units at high effectiveness, and Here We Stand! to prevent the destruction of units and keep them around as long as possible. Mixing this with Sworn Swords, Mormont Units and even putting Maege in the Karstark Spearmen will be best here. The army will contain a lot of pressure on the opponent to finish off units as they really won’t degrade and have the potential to heal as if they were never hit. Looking forward to seeing how she performs in the Northern Host.
Lannisters
Adam Marbrand
Maimed Jaime Lannister
The Mountain that Rides
Tommen and Cersi
Kevan Lannister
Qyburn
Ser Robert Strong
Adam Marbrand! One of my favourite houses in the universe of ASOIAF and essentially the Rohan of the Westerlands, Adam is the outrider commander and foil to Brynden Tully. I am upset that this version of the character is not on horseback however, this one is named as Commander of the City Watch so there is still hope. With the Lannister Tactics Deck being lacklustre, Adam brings a lot to the table; Valiant Example to heal cards, Lash Out to counter an attack and Charismatic Leadership to prevent the use of the opponents orders NCUs or Tactics Zones. Carrying Hardened makes whatever unit more defensive, and some suggest putting him in the Warrior’s Sons to gain essentially double hardened. I am super excited to bring him to the table but not just as a Commander. Jaime Lannister as a Commander is very hit or miss, you lose Jaime and the Tactics Deck falls apart, but attachment Adam counts as Jaime for his Commander Cards buffing Jaime to a new height.
Recently I attended a tournament in Swindon and for the first time used Varys in some of my lists. I was pleasantly surprised with his usefulness as it often felt like I had an extra activation with some of his buffs and debuffs. NCU Qyburn is almost the same as Varys but they cannot be used in the same army. He plays a similar role however it is always a debuff to the enemy whereas Varys can give some buffs to the controlling player. The exciting aspect of this is that he also unlocks the use of Ser Robert Strong who is a beast but is pricey for an attachment at 3pts. Seeing as you are likely to spend 5 pts on a NCU anyways, the NCU version of Qyburn makes the most sense when wanting to bring Ser Robert. Either way the machinations of the mad alchemist shall be hitting the table real soon.
Free Folk
Mance Rayder, Abel the Bard
Jon Snow
The Great Walrus
Borroq
Borroq’s Boar
Lady Dalla
In my opinion, this box is the biggest dud, the models inside tend to be lacklustre additions and what the Free Folk needed was several commanders to change the flavour. In the box, they got one; The Great Walrus. Being the Frozen Shore leader his cards play way more towards bringing Frozen shore units than anything else in the faction. Battle Endurance is quite powerful when plate don the right unit, like Eldon passing it to the Champions of the Stag, in this instance putting this on to a Bear Rider unit is you best use of the card, or you include it on a strong defensive unit like Thenn Warriors with a Walrus Clan Chieftain, or really any unit with a Chieftain in. The rest of his cards like Walrus’ Strength works more for the Frozen Shore Chariots I think as well as the Bears to ensure they aren’t ground down in long combats and get on with charging. I do believe he is a dark horse for Free Folk and since I already wanted to build a Frozen Shore army he is a perfect release for myself.
Recently Free Folk have been doing a lot of winning, and a correlation between these strong lists is high activations that some factions just cannot catch up with. The reveal that we were going to get Borroq and his Boar was concerning as I believed it would have been a cheaper activation for the army swarming with them. Surprisingly he is similar to Ghost although is forced to activate when Borroq’s unit does. The unit feels like the old Skingchangers rules with the bear and I would be looking to use him like the Ogre Kingdoms Sabretooth tiger strategy; blocking charges. Using the boar to block a charge from the opponent will leave you in a defensive position to hold a flank or objective, or protect you long enough to be the first into the fray. I am excited about how he will be utilised in the future.
Night’s Watch
Denys Mallister
Cotter Pyke
Benjen Stark Mounted
Eddison Tollett
Yoren
Satin
As soon as this box was announced I was filled with joy that Yoren was making it into the game. At last the wise cracking saviour of the Girl with No Name can fight alongside his brothers of the Night’s Watch. Being a badass Night’s Watch recruit meant that he must be better than them, and with the recent nerf to Conscripts (albeit not enough to make them non-viable) I was worried that he wouldn’t see the light of day. But boy was I wrong. The 6pt NCU Yoren has the potential to bring several units of Conscripts to the table for free, however it is likely you will only be able to get one unit on the board from his abilities unless the opponent severely mishandles the tactics board. Even the psychological pressure of making sure Yoren is not making full use out of his ability is enough to play havoc with an opponent’s strategy just like how Wendamyr’s tokens. Yoren gains an order token whenever he claims a Tactics Zone, he can then replace the Crown Zone with gaining another token. Once he has four tokens, he can replace any zone with, deploy a unit of Conscripts within the Long Range of a friendly table edge. It is likely he will get this unit mid game and possibly he could get another one late game, but how effective the second unit will be is yet to be seen. The truth is, paying 6pts for a NCU that can get you a free 5pt unit that can hold an objective and heal some of the units you actually paid for seems too good to pass up.
I am a huge fan of Commanders with themes, and although it feels strange getting yet another Benjen Stark model, a cavalry focused Night’s Watch Commander is welcomed arms wide into the fold. Two of his cards are carbon copies of Brynden Tully’s cards but the two Night’s Watch units make them play out very differently. Since Benjen can only be attached to a Ranger unit (Ranger Vanguards or Ranger Trackers), it is highly likely we may not even see Neutral additions, who am I kidding? We will still likely see them. However, his third card provides some unique benefits for a Ranger unit, resulting in the likes of the Ranger Hunter’s synergising well in the mounted Benjen force. Since we rarely see the two cavalry units in the Night’s Watch lists, I am excited that there is some incentive to play them now.
There we have it, some of the interesting characters and their rules from the new Heroes Boxes. I am sure it won’t be too long before these are released everywhere for us to utilise.
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