With all the releases teased earlier this year at GAMA now starting to release over the next few months, we start to think about what could be next for the game. Most players are crying out for a boost to the Neutral Faction in the form of a new Heroes Box. I have a few ideas of what could be inside this box based on the releases so far.
State Of Play
With the release of Golden Company, we see a glaring issue with the faction not having enough diversity in NCUs. The points cost of Golden Company units restricts what NCUs can be taken, a triple NCU list is hard to weave into a Golden Company army without sacrificing certain units or attachments to do so. Walder also restricts this further. The best Commander for Golden Company does look to be Daario Naharis; however, it feels like the army doesn’t blend well due to their respective Commander not being released.
It is not just the GC who are suffering. Roose Bolton lists miss out on a critical 4pts NCU due to bringing Roose as the Commander. Vargo works well out of the Neutral Faction but within the two Mummur units and Vargo does not make a synergistic force.
So how can Neutral Heroes 3 fix this? What would be inside?
The Shy Maid’s Crew
Not present in the show was a favourite plot of mine about the surviving son of Rhaegar Targaryen. The son has been trained from birth by Varys and Illyrio to be king and is introduced in the books in a Feast for Crows. He is introduced through Tyrion who is smuggling himself away on a ship called the Shy Maid which contains characters who act as Aegon’s entourage. I do think a box with some of these characters would patch the holes in the Neutral Faction.
Griff a.k.a Jon Connington – Commander/Attachment/NCU – Jon Connington has a long history, but I could only see him entering the game as a Neutral Commander, unless the Aegon side of the game does become Targaryen Faction since the original plan is to marry Aegon to Daenerys. Either way there is plenty of story to make several versions of rules for Connington. As a 6pts NCU I would have two rules, a once per game ability just like Selyse and Shireen to keep a unit alive, this would represent Connington’s ploy to save Griff during the sack of King’s Landing. The second ability would be an influence for Precision as Connington is a well experienced fighter. Attachment Connington should be 2pts and have Aegon’s Protector just like Addam has for Jaime but with Martial Training. Commander Connington should have Hardened for his long history with combat, and Martial Training. His cards should be a healing card to represent his saving of Aegon I would actually have the card be exact in rules to Baratheon Conviction since it heals and shows Connington is a Stormlander, Cunning Ploy should be one card for his trick to take Storm’s End, and the final card should represent how long Connington has been in the game perhaps Battle Endurance would be ideal here.
Young Griff a.k.a Aegon Targaryen – Commander/NCU – Aegon has returned out of the blue, no one was none the wiser of his existence. Trained to be king since he was a babe, he has known nothing but his destiny to sit the Iron Throne and restore house targaryen. As a Commander, I see him like Lord Paramount Renly. His abilities would be Boisterous Charisma, Stalwart, and Rally Cry. His Cards would be Inexplicable Return, Will of the One True King, and an attachment card that will give a unit ability depending on which zones you control, like how Nymeria works. NCU Aegon will be based on his plan to forego the idea to link with Daenerys and to invade Westeros without her quoting “move fast and strike hard”, I would have Aegon be a 4pts NCU with an influence for +1 move and attack dice like Qhourin Halfhand but he will also have an ability which allows him to count as controlling the Letters Zone if he is on the Tactics Board.
Haldon Halfmaester – NCU – Haldon is a healer and tutor for Young Griff. He takes up the responsibilities of a Maester when they retake Jon Connington’s home of Griffon’s Roost even though he did not earn enough links to become a full Maester. Haldon also played a game with Tyrion for secrets and Tyrion noted he should be very careful around Haldon. Gathering secrets and discerning letters at Griffon’s Roost whilst being a healer in the form of checking for grayscale may at first be hard to put into rules, however I think the Free Folk version of Craster has rules perfect for this. Healing whilst gaining Tactics Cards. Haldon would be 4pts.
Rolly Duckfield, first of the Kingsguard – Attachment – Rolly has a story perfect for any character that might have been sent to The Wall. Instead of facing a local Lord’s wrath and possibly being sent to The Wall he fled across The Narrow Sea and joined up with the Golden Company where he served as a squire for Harry Strickland. He was sent to Young Griff by Harry to be his Master at Arms and eventually was knighted by Young Griff and became his first Kingsguard. Griff scolded Young Griff about his choice, but Young Griff believes he needs Kingsguard willing to die for him. I can only see Rolly as an Attachment, he could be a NCU like Rodrik Cassel due to being Master at Arms, or Donal Noye since Rolly was a blacksmith. As an Attachment I would make him 2pts with the Order: Sentinel and the ability Boldness and Courage.
Lady Lemore, Septa of the Seven – NCU – Unlike most other people who are representatives of their faith, Lady Lemore does not wear her religion on her sleeves. Lemore is a Septa of the Faith of the Seven and educates Young Griff on the religion; she frequently wears disguises to avoid prosecution from other religions. She accompanies Young Griff all the way to his invasion of Westeros. In terms of rules, I would make Lady Lemore a 4pts NCU, her ability will be like Alester Florent’s NCU ability but called Speta in Disguise, allowing her to claim a zone then spend a token to position her in another zone. This could be very useful for Golden Company lists and is not out of place in any other Neutral Lists.
Tyrion Lannister, Exile – NCU – Tyrion as a Neutral NCU plays into his loyalties and goals after he fled Westeros. His goal is to bring Fire and Sword and kill all who have wronged him, he believes Aegon will be this tool but after being captured and taken to Daenerys he believes her dragons will be his best way to do so. Throughout all of this he plays a lot of Cyvasse to learn secrets, gain information, and win deals for his plots. This Tyrion would be a 5pts NCU and play almost opposite to how he does in the Lannister faction. Tyrion reduces the hand size of the opponent’s hand by 1 as well as reducing how many cards they draw at the beginning of the turns by 1. I would also have a once per game ability to use Counterplot on a Tactics Card like how his Lannister Card works to fetch a Counterplot from the deck.
Harry Strickland, Captain-General of the Golden Company – Commander/Attachment – Harry Strickland does not do too much as himself and acts more of an embodiment of the Golden Company through one person. Therefore, I would design him as such. As an attachment I would give him Dauntless, Motivated by Coin, and I would want an ability to amplify the War Elephants since Harry had a favourite one, either an order to make a unit gain the benefits of charging or Tactical Reposition would be good here. As a Commander, He should retain Dauntless and Motivated by Coin, but also gain something like Rally Cry, a way to heal units as an attachment for his role as Paymaster. His cards should be “Beneath the gold, the bitter steel” and act like War Cry but for all three tokens and you can place them amongst several units, “Our word is good as gold” this would remove an activation token from a unit, and False Agenda for how they played the Yunkish and broke their contract with Myr.
I do think the forces of Aegon Targaryen would make a perfect Neutral Heroes box, the diversity of characters and how the act will add some much-needed flavour to the faction. I do think there is a precedent for another kind of Neutral box based on some more characters from the War of the Five Kings in the Riverlands. Who do you want for a Neutral Hero?