Affiliation is an amazing game mechanic in ASOIAF. It encourages a certain list building where specific units get to shine rather than sitting on the side lines. However, recently it feels like this mechanic has almost vanished, even though there are still new Commanders being released with the Affiliation trait. This is the third in a series of articles where I want to focus on some of the Affiliation armies and bring them into the spotlight. In this one we talk about the two Houses I deem The Betrayers – Karstarks and Boltons.
Bolton Background
A long history of rivalry with the Wardens of the North, the Boltons will turn on you the first chance they get if it means they become more powerful. Or if you’re unlucky, you’ll end up with a Bolton who will do it for a laugh. They are torturous and sadistic people, with their favourite hobbies being manhunt and flaying. When translating this to the table, it’s obvious that the Boltons should be designed around Morale and be the Gods of that feature. However, they should all be conniving with their actions.
List 1: The Horn Bearer
House Bolton Cutthroats – Ramsay Snow (The Bastard of Bolton)
House Bolton Cutthroats
House Bolton Bastard’s Girls – Dreadfort Captain
House Bolton Blackguard
House Bolton Flayed Men
Walder Frey
Roose Bolton
This list is based on the moment in the books, and the show, where Ramsay is sent to route Theon from Winterfell and blows a horn every five minutes out of psychological warfare. Obviously, you should put the free Attachment Reek whenever you bring Ramsay, but it wouldn’t make sense for this design, however hunters with hounds make perfect sense for the sadist. A Dreadfort Captain is also in the list to represent Roose’s lack of trust in Ramsay and needing a loyal eye on the field. Roose, given the orders, and a newfound partnership round of the NCUs in the list, I have always found if you are bringing Walder you cannot bring 3 NCUs due to the possibility of never using him if you face 3 NCUs.
Something amazing about this faction is that four units with inbuilt Affiliation tends to be enough to create some varied lists, and two Commanders with one able to be an attachment that can bring Affiliation and the world becomes an oyster. With Ramsay the Affiliation unlocks some rerolls on a card, healing on another, and extra hits from the third, this is a great spread of additions with great incentive to handout Affiliation. Ramsay is all about spending panic tokens to gain benefits, Reek is essential to this as well as Roose to keep tokens out.
List 2: Tywoose
Lannister Guardsmen – Roose Bolton (The Leech Lord)
Lannister Guardsmen – Barristan Selmy (Lord Commander of the Kingsguard)
Hedge Knights – Glory Seeker
Hedge Knights – Glory Seeker
The Mountain That Rides
The High Sparrow
Petyr Baelish
I have seen similar lists to the above do well enough to win tournaments with close to two dozen players. After my experience with the list, I have fine-tuned it to what it is now. Before, the list was two Knights of Casterly Rock instead of the Hedge Knights and no Selmy. I really don’t think the Lannister lance cavalry are that great when you compare it to other cavalry in the game, I do believe bringing the Hedge Knights gives you more power in combat if it lasts longer than one swing. If you don’t take out your target in one swing with the Casterly Knights, then you are stuck normally until someone bails you out. Although you do now lose Lannister Supremacy on most of your units.
Roose’s cards don’t play into Affiliation at all. There is one card that can only be used on a Bolton unit to heal it from failed Panic Checks, however Lannisters already have this, and it just becomes a dead card destined for the bin as soon as it is drawn. The rest of his deck is all about cancelling abilities and handing out more tokens. I think Roose can be improved here, there is no focus of his deck or any form of identity, he can do this thing and that thing, but no one can sit and tell me his design. We need Acceptable Sacrifices for his acts in the book of sending loyal Stark men into situations they wouldn’t come back from, or Counterplot, it’s literally why we know his name. I would love to see a more menacing Roose, but as of right now, he is better as an NCU.
Karstarks Background
There are two stories to the Karstarks (and the Umbers). In the show, both betray the Starks and join the Boltons in the battle for the North. The Karstarks act due to the beheading of the liege Lord by Robb Stark in the War of the Five Kings, and the Umbers because, well, they just don’t give a damn. Apparently. I’m not here to say that was wrong, but yeah that was wrong.
In the books, the Karstarks are led by Alys Karstark but she is too young to do much leading, thus her Uncle is in charge. Arnold Karstark declares for Stannis Baratheon but plots with the Boltons to take control of the whole of House Karstark with marriages and executions. This is foiled when Alys flees to Jon Snow, who then marries her to Sigorn of the Thenns and forms House Thenn. The Karstarks are then in limbo between death and loyalty to Stannis, or even loyalty to Jon Snow.
How do we translate this for the game? Well, the fury of Rickard Karstark is second to none, and his one liners that show he has zero fear when provoking the wrath of Catelyn, Greatjon Umber and King Robb himself should be recognised. Throughout the books, Karstarks are rarely mentioned without also the mention of spears or even lances. We know their infantry is constantly mentioned, and the cavalry were specifically mentioned joining Robb for the push to the Whispering Wood. I hope from this we get to see a good mix of units however a big focus should be on the Commanders creating a flavour.
List 1: Greenfork
House Stark Sworn Swords – Rickard Karstark (Lord of Karhold)
House Karstark Loyalists
House Karstark Loyalists
House Karstark Spearmen
House Stark Outriders
Crannogman Trackers
Roose Bolton
Walder Frey
During the Battle of the Greenfork, Tyrion noted that he saw the sunburst of House Karstark and they charged into their spears behind tall oaken shields. Roose is leading the Northern force at this battle, thus he is in as NCU here. Walder allowed the passage and is a recent ally and therefore I have chosen him, and the Reed troops to represent their swift push through the neck. Then we have a block of Karstark and Stark infantry.
Rickard has some interesting cards that play into his history very well. A Need for Vengeance for his obvious anger for his dead sons at the hands of the Kingslayer. Taunt to represent the taunting of all the leading figures of Robb’s host to kill Jamie Lannister. Karstark Retribution for his rash act of justice slaying the two Lannister boys. These all play very well into the existing Karstark Units, nobody wants to be taunted into the Spearmen and due to them being Karstark also become Weakened. Loyalists aren’t that strong, but the Precision hits hard, add Need for Vengeance to get the kill when you need it most is perfect and have an extra +1 to Hit for being Karstark, but also the third card helps put out Vulnerable tokens more often which is so helpful as Karstarks aren’t bringing the hefty weaponry.
List 2: Tim’s Advice
House Stark Sworn Swords – Rickard Karstark (Lord of Karhold)
House Karstark Spearmen – Rickon Stark (Prince of Winterfell), Osha (Spearwife Guardian)
Shaggydog
House Stark Sworn Swords
Crannogman Trackers
Stark Bowmen – Crannogman Warden
Arya Stark
Rodrick Cassel
Using the best of the faction here and combos to bait the opponent I think you can make an annoying list. Overwatch from the Warden, Hidden Traps from the Trackers, Spearmen mixed with Osha, add Taunt into the mix and you are controlling the field quite well. Arya is used to push the Spearmen into a favourable position early in the game or even the Bowmen is crucially for board control, and Rodrick is there to get more value out of the bows in the force.
I do think this Commander and faction are well done, and another unit is on the way. Some more characters and maybe an extra unit and we are well on our way onto a rounded force. However, there are better units in the Stark faction that take attention away from these units. Stark Sworn Swords outshine the Loyalists in a lot of ways, and the attachment is laudable considering the Sworn Sword Captain does everything it does, but better. The Spearmen shine however, especially with the popular combo of Rickon. I bet this combo will be addressed in the next update in terms of points I would guess. Give the Karstarks a shot, trust me when I say they can perform well.
We have a few more Stark sub factions to go, and we will try and finish them off in the next article before moving on to other factions. Mormonts and Reeds are next and are very different from anything we have seen. I do want to talk more on some of the Neutral sub factions and would likely be doing these shortly. Let me know how you are running Boltons in the comments.
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