CMON have announced that Boltons for A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures game will become a Mini-faction and that this has opened the door for smaller allegiances to become Mini-factions as well. This had me pondering over what could actually become a Mini-faction in the game both currently out and future releases. In this article, I go in depth on what could be the next Neutrals Mini-factions based on the currently released allegiances; Brave Companions, Stormcrows and Golden Company.
Mini-factions
Boltons will become a mini-faction with 6 units (Blackguard, Cutthroats, Bastard’s Girls, Flayed Men, Spearmen, and Archers), 3 Commanders (Roose, Ramsay, and Steelshanks), 5 NCUs (Roose, Ramsay, Jeyne, Walda, and Tybald), various Named Attachments (Starter + Heroes 1).
This is the bar we need to reach to define an affiliation as a Mini-faction. I will try to match or stay close to the same number of units and characters to see if it would be possible. If there is more than what Bolton has, then I will only include it if this is a no brainer to add.
Bloody Mummers
6 Units: Skirmishers, Zorse Riders, Bowmen, Pillagers, Shaggy Shields, and Bandits.
3 Commanders: Vargo Hoat, Urswyck the Faithful, and Zollo the Fat.
5 NCUs: Utt, Qyburn, Shagwell, Urswyck, and Vargo.
Attachments: Rorge, Biter, Three Toes, Togg Joth, Iggo, Pyg, and Timeon.
Bloody Mummers exist in the most limited form out of all the Neutral subfactions. Sporting only 1 Commander that doubles up as an Attachment and 2 Units. They play a pretty big role during the War of the Five Kings being a mercenary company that switches allegiances often, oh and they are the ones that cut off Jaime’s hand.
Skirmishers and Zorse Riders will be joined by bowmen with powdered cheeks and squat hairy men with shaggy shields. These two units would fill a few gaps in the army by being a ranged unit and a survivable unit. Pillagers represent their initial task of joining the Mountain in burning the Riverlands, this would be the 5pt unit for the faction that is just a little bit worse than the Skirmishers. Bandits represent the post-war state the Mummers are in being that they disband into various groups.
Vargo is currently the only Commander for the Brave Companions, however his second in Command Urswyck would be a perfect second Commander. The most important moments for Urswyck were his capture of the escaped Jaime and Brienne of Tarth and then splitting the Brave Companions, heading for Oldtown. Nothing has been mentioned since AFFC. Zollo would be my suggestion for a third Commander. He is a Dothraki and was the one to cut off Jaime’s hand, he would fill a Cavalry Commander role focusing on speed for the faction.
For NCUs, Utt is a lieutenant and septon, and dies in a sufficient way at the hands of the Brotherhood. Qyburn is a member of the Brave Companions after his exile, and then takes over the Maester duties at Harrenhal before attending to Jaime. I do think Qyburn would be better as a Neutral NCU, but it is worth a mention for the Bloody Mummers. Shagwell is known as a jester and so could play a similar role to Patchface as an NCU. Vargo does a bunch of sitting back and commanding along with Urswyck so they could have new NCU versions.
There are plenty of named characters that can become Attachments in a Heroes Box, it seems like Rorge and Biter will become standard Neutrals, but they spend a lot of their time with the Brave Companions. I do want to mention a possible Solo unit in the bear from their fighting pit which could act as a cheap distraction wrecking ball.
Whilst important to the story I don’t think aesthetically the Mummers will be popular. They would have to turn them into the typical outlaw faction without conflicting with a future Brotherhood faction. It is more likely for CMON to put their attention into other forces and save the Mummer stuff for standard Neutral releases.
Stormcrows
6 Units: Mercenaries, Bowmen, Dervishes, Cavalry, Defected Windblown, and Defected Long Lancers.
3 Commanders: Daario Naharis, Jokin, and The Widower.
5 NCUs: Daario, Jokin, Widower, Sallor the Bald and Prendahl na Ghezn.
Attachments: Daario, Jokin, Widower, Sallor the Bald and Prendahl na Ghezn.
The Stormcrow Mercenary Company was first hired by the Slave Masters of Yunkai before defecting to the Targaryen forces and assisting them with their conquest of Slaver’s Bay. They could see a separate faction built for them to represent their contract with Yunkai and if they were to never side with Danerys.
Cavalry seems like an obvious choice to include for the Stormcrows who have had to defend an important trade route throughout the books. This will also allow them to integrate better with all the Dothraki stuff in the Targaryen forces. However, the two defector units would be Stormcrow only. I chose these as there really isn’t any other mention of forces other than when they fight rival mercenary companies some of their forces swap sides after the battles.
NCUs and Attachments are limited as there are not many named characters apart of the force. I picked the two captains Daario kills to prove to Danaerys that his forces are loyal, and the two captains that command the force whilst Daario is imprisoned by the Masters. There is a good amount of diversity to at least make something out of their playstyle, for example Jokin commands the bowmen, so something about long ranged confrontation would be best.
I don’t think Stormcrows will become a Mini-faction, however I do think it is possible to see mercenaries of Essos faction for all the ones that side against Targaryens. Although I do believe this is best reserved for making a fully fleshed out Slaver’s Bay faction and having some like the Tattered Prince be dual loyalties with Dany. There are just not enough characters here to make it matter without making new Targaryen characters for some reason.
Golden Company
6 Units: Swordsmen, Crossbowmen, Elephant, Spearmen, Cavalry and Bowmen.
3 Commanders: Jon Connington, Harry Strickland, and Aegon VI Targaryen.
5 NCUs: Tyrion Lannister, Illyrio, Septa Lemore, Haldon Halfmaester, and Varys.
Attachments: Griff, Young Griff, Ser Rolly Duckfield, Yandry, Ysilla, Black Balaq and Harry Strickland.
The most likely Neutral force to become a Mini-faction is the Golden Company. They have enough characters and detail to match the amount of releases the Boltons will have, with a possibility for more from what we know of the pre-released chapters of TWOW.
An obvious missing unit is the Spearmen, which for some reason are coming out the woodwork for every force recently. The sigil for the Golden Company is a pile of skulls at the base of a spear; it fits perfectly to have a unit that matches their sigil. It is mentioned that the company has a thousand bows and only a third are Crossbowmen, this would be perfect for the double-curved horn-and-sinew bows or the big yew longbows. It is also stated that they have five hundred knights, each with three horses, and a similar number of squires, each having one horse, so a Cavalry unit would make plenty of sense as well.
There are three obvious and perfect Commanders for the faction. Harry Strickland the current captain of the company. Jon Connington the father figure to Aegon, former Hand to the Mad King, and former member of the Golden Company. Then Aegon VI Targaryen son of Ellia Martell and Rhaegar Targaryen wielding the legendary Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre. All would bring their own style to the field of battle.
Whilst a Small Council has not been formed yet, there are already enough political players assisting Aegon. Varys and Illyrio have been helping Aegon the entire time, preparing Westeros for his arrival whilst ensuring he learns to become the best King. New versions for both showing their true purpose would be most welcomed here. Tyrion was brought to help Aegon after his trial who gives great advice to help improve their plans for the Targaryens. The mysterious Septa and intelligent Halfmaester would work as the other remaining NCUs.
Non-Commander versions of Jon and Aegon would be their Griff alter egos allowing for you to play them as hidden names so that the rest of the world does not catch onto this plot. The first member of the Kingsguard Duckfield is a required addition since Aegon feels that it is most important that Rolly will die for him since Jaime Lannister was never of the same mind with the Mad King. Other Attachments can be the crew of the Shy Maid or named members of the Golden Company like Black Balaq who commanded all the archers.
Golden Company has enough to match or even surpass the releases for the Boltons with ways to interpret the source material in different ways.
Summary
The Bloody Mummers and Stormcrows just don’t have enough or are stretched to their limits to fit the amount a Mini-faction needs to breathe. Mummers comes close but there are characters with nothing to go off for design like the Commanders. Golden Company fit so perfectly that it is hard to imagine this was not planned by CMON already, imagine the Starter Set is two units of Spears, a unit of Bows and a unit of Cavalry followed by Harry, Jon, Illyrio and Varys, with the Heroes Box containing Aegon and his close advisors.
There is certainly more to the Neutrals with an opening for the Brotherhood Without Banners or House Frey to burst on to the scene. Outside of the Neutrals, the Riverlands and the Reach are obvious choices to become factions themselves. We will be talking about each in future articles.
New Boltons are out soon but you don’t need ot run just Boltons. Why not pick up some new Neutrals with Golden Company, Stormcrows, or Brave Companions?
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