The NCUs and Attachments of the Stannis Loyalty Baratheon Heroes box have been revealed, giving Stannis new characters to reinforce his position. These characters range from characters that can topple the leading factions to being worth less than Denys Mallister. Let’s peek into the lore and compare them to the rules.
I want to talk about a few subjects when breaking down the reveals for these new characters. I want to rank them on Rules, Themes, and Creativity. How competitive are they but also how fun and flavourful? How well do they represent their characterisation in the books/show? Is the model a great design in terms of look but also synergy?
Cressen, Maester of Dragonstone
Cressen is the only character except for Stannis that made it into the show, he was the Maester that tried to poison Melisandre with wine at the beginning of season 2. In the books, the prologue chapter of A Clash of Kings and died at the end of the chapter. Cressen is a father figure for Robert, Renly, and Stannis. Cressen looked after the boys when their parents died on Shipbreaker Bay. Stannis needed Cressen more due to his lack of charm and Cressen said he was his favourite and the son he never had. Cressen places the Strangler poison (same one that Tyene’s rules are based off) in a cup of wine and drinks it with Melisandre resulting in his death.
Cressen should work well with Rightful Heir Stannis as this is Stannis least dominated by the will of R’hllor. Loving Counsel is perfect for Rightful heir helping get his cards out which is incredibly important for that commander. This also works well with many other commanders if you wish to use him. Cressen could have had the same rules as Tyene considering it is the same poison, however I really appreciate a different rule designed for killing a character.
Sacrifice for the King is very competitive, allowing the Baratheon player the chance to dominate the tactics board if needed. I do think this is better used earlier in the game which comes with the negative of losing an activation. However, holding onto the ability could become game defining. Both fun and strong, I am unsure if Cressen could have been made better.
Maester models will eventually get to a point of looking the same, the details on Cressen as well as the props like the cane will help him stand out from a plain design like Pycelle or any future ordinary looking Maesters. I think this model and the rules are near perfect of what needs to be done for a character.
Final Score: 10/10
Patchface, Patches
I am so mad that this character has made it into the game before others like Edmure Tully, Maester Lewyn, and Mace Tyrell. Maybe this is a filler character to bulk out the box as there aren’t too many big names on Stannis’ side but at the same time could there have been another character better suited for this box?
Patchface is named after the green and red squares tattooed across his face, this is to mark Patchface as a Slave who serves as a jester in Volantis. He was on the boat that was shipwrecked carrying the Baratheon children’s parents in and washed up to shore without memory or his wits. The Lannisters plotted with Littlefinger to counter the claim Stannis makes about Cersei’s incest by claiming that Shireen is the daughter of Patchface and not Stannis due to her greyscale. Often Patchface’s ramblings are omens of the future, he predicted the Red Wedding by saying “Fool’s blood. King’s blood, blood on the maiden’s thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye”
Basing the rules around the omens is the best choice however making it so powerful doesn’t make sense as everyone dismissed what he was saying most of the time. This could link into the ‘What if?’ that CMON based the game on, so what if people took his omens seriously. The rules are so good, it instantly stops the Endless Horde for Mance which a lot of people are focusing on, however I think no matter who you face, no matter what army you are bringing, he will be useful. Berserker Tactics, Assault Orders, Set For Charge, For the Watch!, Field Control etc there are so many you can just remove from being an issue.
The model is ridiculous, which is very fitting for a fool. It is very accurate to the description with the antler hat full of bells and his stick. I am only going to mark this model down for theme, I think it is too strong for someone who is disregarded in everything they do. Perhaps it should have been an influential debuff ability as he is annoyingly distracting.
Final Score: 8/10
Dale Seaworth, Captain of the Wraith
Dale is one of many children of Davos and is quite a big character in the books. He is the one to distribute Stannis’ letter with all his claims across Westeros notably visiting Dorne and the Arbor. He fought in a place considered to be very dangerous in the Battle of the Blackwater and died on his ship the Wraith in a wildfire explosion. Dale is a follower, he never does anything of his own accord and only speaks to agree with someone, or give a look when others do. The only notable worth of his is that he is a great captain of a ship.
The rules for Dale make me believe the designers did not know what to do with him. Davos’ Vassal makes a lot of sense but doesn’t affect the game too much. Counterstrike has been handed out a lot to characters recently that have little to go off from the books. Nothing written would suggest he counters anything. I think it would have been a good idea to tie him into the Greyjoy pirate theme by linking back to him being a sailor; give him outflank.
Dale will likely only be used, if at all, in a Davos army. His rules are weak and amount to very little. His model is weird, he looks very young for being Davos’ eldest son and married. He is shorter than the other models in the box and is dressed very lightly for battle. I think in every way possible this model fails.
Final Score: 0/10
Bryen Farring, King’s Squire
Bryen Farring is nothing. Seriously he does nothing. He puts a leather cape on Stannis, and later dies of a cold. He is one of the King’s Squires for a long time, however. The only other time he is mentioned is when a cannibal goaded Godry Farring by saying Bryen smelt good when burning on the funeral pyre.
Devan Seaworth was the other squire to Stannis and comes with True Conviction. I think it makes sense to have the other loyal squire till his very end to come with this ability. However, Protection of the Crown seems out of place. Is this just because he was a squire for a king? Sheltered and protected by Stannis all his life? It would have been better to make him an attachment that can only join a unit with Stannis in it, then give a buff to Stannis like Whatever May Come from the Betrayer version of Jorah Mormont. Perhaps it could have been a good idea to give him Stannis’ Vassal.
Whilst the theme is bad, the rules are strong. True Conviction doesn’t come up often however both rules would be stellar in a Stag Knight unit. Give them rerolls if they are reduced in rank which they don’t mind being. And keep them alive longer by rerolling the defence saves mixed with the Resilience order. There is a place in terms of rules for Bryen Farring.
The model is not great. Apart from looking like a discount musketeer he is very plain; I hope there is some modelling down to his shield as the sigil for House Farring is complex and glorious and will for sure bump the model up in standing after a paint job. I am marking Bryen down for theme and slightly for look.
Final Score: 6/10
Justin Massey, Cunning Follower
We talked a lot about Justin Massey already in the previous article, I do think this attachment is closer to being a like to his book presence, however I do believe a NCU version would be perfect and ideal for Justin.
Justin does have quite a bark on him and tends to bite back at others when insults are flung his way. He generally follows up by storming away but not before threatening them back. He also advises Stannis on many battle scenarios such as marching quickly to assault the Boltons when they were besieging Moat Cailin to remove them quickly. Battle Plan and Threaten both fit Justin thematically.
2pt attachments are over costed. They rarely make up for their points cost doing very little, and most of the time you don’t have too many spare points to medal with. If you are playing Stannis Baratheons, you will likely use the spare points to improve your NCUs rather than recruit some attachments. Justin is great for Rightful Heir to cycle through your card better, however Cressen can do this better than massey thus making him redundant unless you don’t bring the Maester. He is not an auto take but might work well.
Synergising with other commanders is not on the table, it is just not needed as the entire deck for Baratheons is useful. Justin in both forms seems to have managed to be interesting but out of place in the faction.
Final Score: 6/10
Cressen and Patchface are powerful NCUs that we will be seeing often, both strong and themeatic with gorgeous models to top it off. The attachments are the downside to this heroes box, Dale and Bryen are neither well thought out, fun or storng and do not resemble their lore. Justin manages to stay thematic with a glorious model but his cost and rules are a hit or miss. Now it is time to test these all out and figure out if this is truly the case for these models.
Keep your eye out tomorrow for my review of the Stannis box. If you are looking to pick up some new models then use this link, this helps support the articles going forward. Thank you to everyone who has used it so far!
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