Night gathers, and now your watch begins. ASOIAF 2023 update is here for the Night’s Watch. This article goes over the changes to the forces defending The Wall and speculates over the future of the game for them. I want to give an early warning. This update had some major changes to how you build your Night’s Watch roster, and did nerf their activation count significantly, but are not unplayable. Night’s Watch players might be pushed out of their comfort zone going forward.
Pre Update
Night’s Watch were doing very well mainly due to the Relentless ability so easily spammed. This prevented a generally low activation army from playing low activations snowballing in attacks against the opponent. Free actions litter the faction from Relentless, Quick Fire, and Tactics Cards. On top of this you can attach countless abilities sending a unit from mediocrity into an elite fighting unit.
The right explosion of Attacks and buffs results in most opponents becoming undone and quite frankly the whole faction needs a rework. Reduce the number of free actions accessible to the force, limit the amount of vows a unit can have at one time, and rework a bunch of the characters. All this is easily said than done as this is a lot of nerfs that might result in the faction becoming bad. A lot of their Units and NCUs are very good so it might not have a hefty impact, furthermore the faction isn’t dominating but rather certain Units, Attachments and Characters are which utilise everything they can to a point of overkill.
A few changes might freshen the force for some more creative list building whilst limiting the snowball effect.
General Changes
There is very little of note here. War Cry change to Jon Snow, Hardened change to Othell, Satin change to Vassal, and Denys Mallister change to Knightly Vow.
Denys Mallister needs a rework the most out of every single Commander in the history of the game. He is top tier trash, and his cards often never see play, and when they do it is so little in effect that you feel like bringing any other Commander, even a Neutral one with no Affiliation units, would be mountains better than what you get. They are way too restrictive with how and when you can get a benefit and the result of the benefit is so little there is no point. The Knightly Vow change is a welcomed one that will give his Unit a bit more of a punch, but really it matters quite little.
Jon Snow Commander is beyond the Attachment variant and due to this you will most likely not see him anyways. War Cry and Reckless Heroism is a sweet combo, but Cotter Pike brings Reckless Heroism and Furious Charge for a 1pt less. If you were just bringing Jon for his rules, you might as well bring Cotter, the only difference is Jon gives access to Ghost which influences the decision. Attachment Jon is a tax for Ghost only.
The Result – I see these few minor changes having no impact on pick rate or gameplay. Satin is the only one worth thinking about, but this change is just clarifying the rule rather than adding/deducting anything from the model.
Relentless Nerf
The only general change worth diving deep into is the nerf too Relentless. Whilst initially this had me believe that the Watch Captain spam was over, the additional attack action remains and is still quite strong. You best make sure you are killing this Unit in one go when you are attacking in Melee. The change can be broken down in a few ways, the activation count, and the new combinations.
Activations – Now more than ever, Coldhands and Ghost become invaluable. Losing the activations offered by the Attachments restricts Night’s Watch massively, to remain in high activation you need to bring Neutrals, the cheaper Units, or the Solos. Jon Snow Commander jumps up in value (even though he is already the best Commander) for not having to pay points for himself to then pay for Ghost. Attachment purchasing will be reduced in the long run due to points being scarce for the faction and the need for activations coming first. 8 Activation lists will become very specific if they are pure Night’s Watch or will be supplemented with Neutrals.
New Combos – Essentially the Watch Captain lost control of when to have a free attack, now it is straight after being attacked. This could be a huge deterrent for the opponent and eventually they will need to bite the bullet. At the same time, Boldness and Courage will keep the Unit at high dice for the counterattack. I think the Captain is still very much usable. I also believe that CMON accidentally buffed the Shadow Tower Spearmen since with a Captain, they are at least 7 dice no matter what rank you are, Set for Charge Attack followed by a Relentless Attack. The Unit may be incredibly brutal as you can’t fight that. Ranger Hunters will get to retreat after you have attacked them as well which can mean a Quick Fire will go off as well.
The Result – This change has made attacking the Night’s Watch very punishing. You will want to remove a Unit in one go which will bring a huge value to ranged Units softening up the target and then a big hit from a melee Unit. With NCU support and some Tactics Cards it will be quite difficult to see the results you want. I can see Watch Captains still being taken quite often; however they are just vastly different in playstyle for the user and opposition.
NCUs – Qhorin, Donal, Gilly
Was this necessary? Gilly needed her wording put right since rules as written she was unplayable. But reducing the points cost for the other two NCUs felt a bit out of nowhere and uncalled for. Whilst they weren’t utilised as much as other NCUs they are still great picks due to the benefits that come alongside them. Qhorin being 6pts in a faction where most Units are expensive does rule him out very often, especially when that used to equal two Watch Captains. Donal was fine at 5pts.
The Result – You will likely see a lot more play from Qhorin and Donal with Hand of the King Ned never looking more useful. Donal is useful with his rules being very open for use, and Qhorin can add further buffs to buffed up Units or take a crucial Unit out of a Round. The pick rate for these two will skyrocket for sure.
Jon Snow
With Rally Cry removed Jon Snow will now no longer be the best Commander in the faction. This is what CMON should have said when they were discussing the change. They believe Jon had it all and so replacing the heal with a token generating ability will reduce him being so potent. Instead it does very little and Jon Snow is still the best Commander. When will CMON learn that Commanders that hand out free actions are the best Commanders in the game? Kevan/Othell/Assault Orders/Quick Fire/Relentless/Set for Charge and many more are all commonly seen in the most dominating lists in ASOIAF. Until they are all dialled back or removed, they will continue to be the most sought-after benefits to stomp the opponent. After Relentless got nerfed, Sentinel became a very sought after rule for the same reasons.
The Result – Jon Snow will continue to be the best Commander for the Night’s Watch with Cotter Pike and Benjen Stark looking to be the only competitors, all of them share the same benefit, free attack actions. CMON failed to address the power of Jon.
Ranger Vanguard and Coldhands
Ranger Vanguard received the new updated Outflank and now they are playable. After playing with this Unit, I can say the hype is not what it lives up to be. The Unit is lacking on punch with the tokens being the only in-built rule to help with that, and they don’t. I have seen Coldhands being taken in the Unit to have a free attack form Sentinel and utilising the Panic token with Intimidating Presence. I do believe this is the only way to make Vanguard work. A keyword for their attack is missing, with this they will be able to perform like some of the other 7pt Units on the table. They are forced into Outflank just to get a benefit from their abilities which are needed to do damage.
Coldhands on foot Attachment has also had an update due to Outflank. I don’t see many choices here that would be beneficial other than putting him in Ranger Hunters. The inbuilt retreat function would be helpful to utilise them correctly and if ignored would be problematic. I don’t believe he is worth the one point here and there are better choices for an Attachment for the Rangers.
The Result – Whilst pick rate is high to play with the new effect, most people are on the defensive against Outflank now, and if you fail to charge into a favourable position the attack will bounce off. It is a shame here as the models look great and have not quite found the right place in the sun now. Perhaps more play testing will show them in a favourable light?
Post Update
Surprisingly, very little has changed. The way you play or play against the Night’s Watch has changed but not drastically enough to feel refreshing or unfamiliar. A few Units/Characters here and there saw changes that will slightly shake up list building, but they are left the same. I do think Night’s Watch dodge yet another bullet not having Quick Fire addresses or any of their Commanders notably nerfed and it truly shocks me.
It could be possible that since the Free Folk rework that Night’s Watch are primed to fill the vacuum, however they will need to conquer the rising lion of Kevan and the Lannister faction, whilst contending still against Khal Drogo for the Targaryens, and the steadfast Baratheons of both loyalties.
Why not finally pick up some Shadow Tower Spearmen for your Watch Captain to be fielded with now that there is a combo that will make them work?
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