ASOIAF has received their annual update to the game for 2023 (but it is called 2021.02) With it comes balance changes to dominating abilities, dust blown off rules never used, and quality of life improvements to clear up confusion. This article is about the general changes to the game and my opinion on how the update was handled by CMON.
Before We Start
Most of the community did not like this update from CMON. A year of no communication on the update and we get less changes than the previous year. There are reworks that are welcomed with open arms, and others that are frustrating. But the one thing the community were united on, is that this is not enough. Hand full of personal faction tweaks alongside a handful of universal rule changes. There are still outstanding rules that need addressing and factions needed updating to refresh them for the year.
The teaser stream showed that they were listening and making positive changes to the game but now it feels like a mummer’s farce seeing as the stream showed most of the changes. This was not an update; this was an Errata. The game does not feel updated or refreshed, but instead just tweaked. It is better than nothing, but the community deserved more from CMON in almost every way regarding this update. They did mention that this update focuses on universal rules and the next one will be on unique and specific rules. No indication on how long it will be before this update is released and could very well be another year.
General Rules
War Cry – CMON say that the changes to War Cry are due to it overperforming. The ability was thought to be balanced due to the required morale check, however most units that have this effect generally have good Morale values, and attachments that had the order were placed alongside good morale units. To keep War Cry’s versatility and theme, it still is a morale, but one of the two tokens is generated. This encourages smart plays and decision making.
Whilst I do believe War Cry needed addressing for how good it was, I do not believe it was a major issue. The change to it has dropped its worth by a significant amount and automatically made abilities that just hand out a token far superior. Such as Mark Target or Threaten. The biggest misstep here is the fact that the Tactics Cards for War Cry changed, reducing the worth of the Commanders. Many people in the Community believe the card version should have been left alone to bring value to Commanders who have them. I do think a nerf to this rule was a good idea, but the change has not been thought out in terms of Commander balancing.
Changed: Mormont She-bears, Brynden Tully (Card), Champion of the Faith, Jon Snow (Card), Tormund Giantsbane, Wun Wun, Drogo’s Bloodriders, Marselen (Card), Asha Greyjoy and Asha Greyjoy (Card)
Hardened – Hardened was designed to make units that have it endure prolonged engagements. Currently, its use has the added benefit of softening the opponent’s initial assault and consequently is rendering units that have hardened too tough to crack. By removing the first automatic blocked hit and keeping just the blocked hits per destroyed Rank, this ability is now on par with its original intent of prolonged combat.
A good nerf to a rule that needed it. Personally, I do not believe the Addam Marbrand and Warrior Son’s combo was a problem, but do understand that Hardened is not fun to play against resulting in frustration. Think of it this way, at each rank there is a percentage nerf, 100/50/33, so at last rank a third of all hits that would have been blocked now go through, and at two ranks half of them. Playing against Hardened no longer feels like you are smacking your head against a brick wall. Alternatively, this does hurt the performance of a bunch of units and attachments especially for Starks and Greyjoys. Still usable, and useful, but feels bad for factions that were struggling.
Changed: Mormont Veteran, Addam Marbrand, Othell Yarwyck, Great Walrus, Eldon Estermont, Belwas the Strong, and Baelor Blacktyde.
Outflank – The Outflank ability has been underperforming is an understatement. The rule was never used. Even those that brought Hrakkers chose to play them on the board rather than use the rule. It was that bad. Simply put, it is not worth having one less activation, spending an NCU’s activation, claim Maneuverer Zone, hope the opponent doesn’t mess with you, just to play the outflank unit.
“With the current change to Outflank, the player has a guarantee of always being able to place the unit in the Round they choose, but their opponent has a chance to react to this deployment since they will always be the first player when this happens. We believe this change will promote more creative interactions among players and facilitate lists with more than one Outflank unit.”
The Outflank change is great. CMON has taken a rule never used and made it into something every player is considering. This is a perfect way to refresh the game after a year of no updates to factions. Will it be competitive? Possibly. Will it be fun for casual games? Definitely.
Changed: Brynden Tully, Ranger Vanguards, Cold Hands, Davos Seaworth, Jarl, Hrakkars, and Reaver Captain.
Vassal – Already FAQ’d this is a clean-up on cards. This just clears up some confusion.
Knightly Vow – Never saw this ability as an issue, but it was also never taken. It is only present on a few models, however. The change is welcomed but not outcried in demand, I could think of a dozen rules that were called for a rework whereas next to no one spoke up about Knightly Vow.
The Change to have +1 to hit apply to all attacks is an interesting choice, you may see Brienne in armies that go for the Sword Zone anyways, like Starks for example. A nice, surprising change to freshen up the game.
Changed: Barristan Selmy, Brienne of Tarth, and Denys Malister.
Coordination Tactics – A.k.a. the Drowned Men FAQ. This just clears up some confusion.
Relentless – The most dominant Order in the entire game has been nerfed. Whilst fantastic that this rule has been changed, I do think CMON have missed the mark here in a few ways.
Relentless was an auto included in Night’s Watch, Targaryen, and Greyjoy forces. It makes the unit it is attached to more diverse in actions whilst being a cheap activation in the game. With the activation now gone this will hurt the factions list building potential. It also affects the combat effectiveness of these factions and may have reduced their potency.
Relentless is now a free Melee attack after being attacked. This is not once per Round like its previous Order state. If two Relentless units face each other then we are in an infinite loop until one-unit yields. CMON has not thought this rule through, the only way to fix this would be to make it an order, however it becomes a less versatile Sentinel. They can quickly fix this by making it worse than Sentinel resulting in Relentless attachments collecting dust on the shelf. They need to rework the ability…again.
To counter set the power of Relentless, all Relentless attachments have gone down to two points! Wait, why is Victarion not two points? Is this a mistake? Nope CMON confirmed on their FaceBook page when asked whether it was a mistake, but no, it is not a mistake and Victarion remains at three points. He comes with the worst additional ability out of those with Relentless and is more expensive. CMON. This is a mistake, reduce his points cost, or make him better. The points cost of two other units were mistakenly changed which as well is a real feel bad for those units who didn’t see the table much.
Changed: Unsullied Officier, Watch Captain, and Victarion Greyjoy.
Overall – These general changes are not great but are also not bad either. You have a good change in the Outflank rule injecting fresh life into list building that has become stale. Followed by balancing of rules deemed too frustrating to play against in War Cry and Hardened. However, Relentless is poorly reworked as if it was rushed without thinking. The most problematic rule in the game did not get the attention it sorely needed and was miss balanced across factions. Further to this was a quality issue with points mistakes, two units reduced but was a mistake and Victarion not brought down in cost with the other Relentless attachments.
But then, why was Knightly Vow picked to be changed? Hands down there are vast other rules needing to be addressed but Knightly Vow got plucked from the crane game. Why wasn’t Quick Fire not changed two years in a row? Targaryen and Night’s Watch lists have been primarily focused into the Quick-Fire playstyle of wiping an opponent out in one go without retaliation. Something CMON aimed to remove in previous updates.
This update is lacklustre. It is a fraction of the size of the previous update but made within the same time, whether it was always going to be this way. If this came out six months ago it might not have been as bad, but due to how long it has taken for anything to come out of CMON and for this to be the only thing to come out for a year, it leaves me disheartened for the road ahead. Many people in reaction to this update are asking “Do CMON even play the game?”
The teaser stream was perfect, it demonstrated they were listening and making positive changes to the game, I just didn’t expect that what they showed was half of the rule changes they were going to give us. CMON failed to update their game in a proportionate manner.
Factions
We will be releasing a separate article per faction going over the changes and what it means for them going forward. This is about the future for the faction and not just the changes as I deep dive into the State of the Game.
If you want to get a hold of the new Outflank rules ready for the change, why not pick up Brynden Tully for your Stark army or some Hrakkers for the Targaryens.
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