2021.03 Update for A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures Game is here. We will be going over each faction’s changes to Units, NCUs, Characters and even Base Tactics Decks. This update has been bigger than the last and thus has shaken up the game substantially. In this article, we will be looking into the house of the golden lions; House Lannister and their vassals of the West.
Base Tactics Deck
Changes – Fealty to the Crown, Counterplot, Bribery, and Subjugation of Power rework.
The biggest issue with Lannisters has for a long time been their Tactics Deck. Most of their cards relied on the opponent failing a Morale/Panic Test to get any benefit out of them, which is an okay ability if the benefit is worth the risk, but for the most part it wasn’t.
Fealty of the Crown has been tuned to have an extra bit of damage added on to the failed Panic Test which stacks with all the other increases in the faction. Imagine Intimidating Presence from an Assault Veteran, in a Lannister Guardsman Unit with max Lannister Supremacy, Hear Me Roar Tactics Card, Joffrey Influence, and then Fealty to the Crown. That would be a -5 minimum test with +7 Wounds. Brutal. Tommen has become much better because of this.
Bribery’s new effect could also pile on top of this Morale damage as it gives a -1 to Morale whilst attached. This card is an extreme thorn in the side for the opponent who will likely need to sacrifice an NCU to remove it or suffer the debuff for a prolonged period. Now it applies further pressure to remove as Lannisters can capitalise on the Morale a lot.
Subjugation of Power has had a little bit of a nerf as a -4 Morale to remove abilities and Tactics Cards tends to be a bit much, and now with the added buffs to the other cards this could have been a lot more. I don’t mind this change as much since most of the Lannister Faction has had a glow up, but it still requires the opponent to fail for any form of effect from the card. Perhaps Subjugation could have given a token if the Unit passes the test just as a little something to help make it relevant.
Counterplot did not need a change as it was such a powerful effect anyways, but having an avenue to auto succeed the roll is terrifying. With Lannisters now you will need to do some Zone denials to help you with the game, but you can’t block the Crown as they will likely be bringing Joffrey, so it is Coins you must focus on to dampen their deck.
These are some much-needed improvements to the Base Deck to help Lannisters to become relevant against some of the better armies out there.
Tywin Lannister – Commander
Changes – Reworked the Threaten order. Rework Broken Resolve and Exploit Weakness Tactics Cards.
Tywin and Vargo suffered from needing to generate Weakened tokens to be able to do anything. Vargo (outside of Lannisters) suffered more from this, as Tywin had Pycelle to utilise. Threaten is now way more versatile due to its limitations being removed from when the Unit activates to start of a friendly turn. Further to this, Tywin’s cards gain a buff without needing the Weakened token which increases his value.
I will miss the -2 Morale of Broken Resolve, but it is likely for the best due to all the increases in Morale effects from the Base Deck. A fun combo was Bolton Blackguard with Broken Resolve for a -5 Horrific Visage, and if Tywin is with them, you follow it up with a Lannister Supremacy. This card now significantly debuffs the Unit it is Attached to by having them always Weakened. A very strong card.
Exploit Weakness can be used in a lot more situations now as the reroll effect no longer just affects Tywin. There aren’t many situations that I would be clambering for a reroll with some tokens other than just an engaged Unit, however, using this on Crossbowmen for a Long Range reroll would be juicy alongside ensuring your Lance Cavalry aren’t stuck in prolonged combat by helping them to clean up their target.
Tywin is far better now than he was before and I cannot wait to see him hit the table more.
Jaime Lannister – Commander
Changes – Add Precision to attachment. Rework Kingslayer’s Renown and Kingslayer’s Infamy.
Jaime Lannister is one of the least impressive Commanders in the game. For being the most renown swordsman in Westeros and leading one half of the Lannister host, Jaime should be a true force on the battlefield, but he is just nothing. Any Commander that has cards focused on themselves are innately worse than any Commander that affects their army with their cards. The Addam Marbrand Attachment does help with this, but it still feels a bit lacklustre.
Kingslayer’s Renown used to just be an automatic pass after dice have been rolled, but now if it is on Jaime’s Unit, they also heal two wounds. Whilst other Commanders have free actions in their arsenal Jaime just forces a past when you need it the most, but you must be within Long Range of Jaime. You need to suffer a Morale test, be within Long Range of Jaime, and see it as an important test to pass, otherwise this is purely to keep Jaime in the game. This is so boring.
Kingslayer’s Infamy has a huge change in when it can be played. The engaged requirement has been removed meaning any enemy in Long Range could suffer the effects of this card, and with all the changes to the Base Deck this is more likely to go off. All for a grand Weakened Token. Again, boring.
Precision is cool to have on the Kingslayer, but it does very little as Lannisters aren’t doing damage unless it is on a Unit designed for it who really don’t need it. I can see him in Mountain’s Men for triple keywords and some defensive abilities to keep them alive.
I expected more for one of the most principal characters in the Story, hopefully a Goldhand Commander is not too far away. I will be doing an article in the future discussing how I would design a Jaime Commander that feels like his character from the books.
Tyrion Lannister – Commander
Changes – Cunning Ploy and Intercept Orders Tactics Cards rework.
Tyrion is one of the better Commanders for the Lannisters due to how many tools he has in his box for strategy in the game. Need more mobility? Then you have Tactical Reposition and Cunning Ploy. Need to mess with NCUs? You have False Agenda and Intercept Orders. Need to deal with Tactics Cards? He comes with Counterstrategy.
Intercept Orders receives a buff like False Agenda and Cunning Ploy where it can generate a Condition Token if further requirements are met. Tokens are always useful, but they are even more valuable when it is in addition to an effect, not just the whole point of the card like Jaime. Manipulating something like the tactics Board has more impact on the game and is thus more important than passing a Morale or Enforcing one.
Cunning Ploy has slight requirement changes with the Letter Zone no longer being required and it is tying into Tyrion’s Unit being a part of the card’s targeting. This is a buff if you don’t have the Letters, or a nerf if you do. Since Letters are a useful Zone to have it is more of a nerf.
Tyrion’s changes are quite inconsequential, but he didn’t need these slight reworks and they were more to update his cards that feature in other places that needed to change. I do hope we see some Tyrion dedicated Mountain Clansmen soon.
Joffrey Baratheon – Commander
Changes – You Will Obey Me! and Traitors! I Will Have Their Heads! Tactics Cards Rework.
Joffrey has seen updates from the last patch and this one that I do believe finally has him in a good place. Having a Commander with in-built negatives for using needs to be balanced extremely well to not damage the player engagement of the game. It is not fun to penalise yourself or to prove bringing any other Commander would have been better.
Joffrey was already in a much better place and now he is in an even greater position. The Traitors card is just reworked to have much better wording for ease of use, but You Will Obey Me! Has had a significant change like Price of Failure.
No longer does it do a Wound for each miss on the target if you didn’t destroy it. Now if you don’t destroy a rank, you become Panicked and Vulnerable. With +2 Attack Dice and Sundering I don’t believe it is possible for you to not destroy a rank. This card just became insanely strong and for one will be terrified when it is played.
Gregor Clegane – Commander
Changes – Replace Furious Charge ability with Indomitable innate ability. Rework Price of Failure Tactics Card.
What a glow up for the Mountain. It is a poorly kept secret that I love the game design around Affiliation and have always loved Clegane armies featuring all their assets. However, I have always hated Price of Failure as the negatives were just way too much for the buff.
Price of Failure used to do a Wound to the Unit for each miss that would have happened. Lannister’s are not amazing in combat, so the auto hits are great but since they are not great, they are likely to take significant damage. Now the Unit will take a Panic and Vulnerable Token if they didn’t destroy the Unit they are attacking. A fantastic change which will be much more usable for the faction.
On top of this the Attachment card for the Commander has changed adding Sundering to the auto 2 Wounds, and an innate ability that prevents the unit from becoming Weakened. This is huge, Vargo and Tywin Commanders won’t be able to get a bunch of buffs off and you can’t stop the power of an attack from the Mountain with a Weaken token. The Mountain has become a reliable source of damage. Sundering does mean I won’t be running Gregor in the Halberdiers anymore, and people won’t be as convinced with putting him in the new Golden Company Swordsmen. Lannisport City Watch does look to be the best place for him.
Gregor might become a fan favourite for a lot of Lannister players, expect to see more of him in games of all kinds.
Lannisport City Watch
Changes – Change to Attack Dice values and rework Adaptive Style order.
Lannisport City Watch were never better than their 5pts counterparts and thus hardly ever saw play. The changes to Adaptive Style will certainly result in the Unit being taken often. The power of having the buff for the entire round is incredibly strong which is why everyone is bringing Golden Company Swordsmen.
This does need a nerf due to Swordsmen being everywhere now, but this will also impact the City Watch unfortunately. Changing to just the turn would be the better idea, and at the same time you still keep the new version with +2 Morale on the defensive buff, and Precision on the offensive buff. I am unsure if this will mean they are worth taking over other 5pts Units or even other 6pts Units.
Lannisport City Watch are known to be well trained in comparison to another City Watch in Westeros. They are also significantly funded by the Rock, likely because the Port is incredibly valuable for trade and with the gold mines drying up the main source of income. How they are written does not translate to the tabletop here, and I would suggest reworking them entirely to a 7pts Unit that is incredible in combat and gets buffs from holding the Wealth Zone like Loyalty Through Coin ability.
Pyromancers
Changes – Morale increase and remove third effect on Wildfire ability.
With a 6+ armour, short range shooting, and the likelihood to hurt themselves when they attack, the Pyromancers didn’t see play often. However, I have seen a particular potent combination with Sandor Clegane, you just have to look after the Unit a lot more.
With the Morale Stat better and the damaging effect of attacking, this unit will see a lot more play. I expect to see them in lists that utilise multiple attacks such as The Mountain. I am just excited to see a Unit with a low play rate have a change that will make them more playable.
Casterly Rock Honour Guard
Changes – Add Vicious to Melee Attack.
Casterly Rock Honour Guard have had it rough. They have had a change in every update since their release, and the models have been widely considered some of the worst, and they are still not appealing. I think Vicious is nice, especially when the Base Deck has so many morale effects added in to help this, but it will not change much.
The obvious way to make this Unit worth playing over any other 7pts, or even 6pts Units, is to allow their ability to not spend the token for the extra effect. This would resolve the issues with the Unit and make them quite unique. Rodrik Cassel’s Press the Advantage Card was changed from something similar to this ability (although it never spent the tokens) into something more applicable in the game.
It’s an easy fix to make and will result in the Honour Guard Unit becoming an honorary mention.
House Clegane Mountain’s Men
Changes – Switch Vicious with Critical Blow in the Marauder’s Blade ability, and Morale Increase.
This is a big deal. Vicious plays with the Lannister Base Deck and various other Units and Characters, and so having it all the time will see the Mountain’s Men synergise more often. Furthermore, this always helps their second ability Prey on Fear to keep them in the game and give them a better chance at the combat buffs.
Their survivability was a worry at 4+ Armour and 7+ Morale. Now we see the Morale go up to 6+ which will have an impact in the game. Jaime looks great with this Unit giving them another keyword for an attack and two defensive abilities to help with their vulnerability. With Gregor becoming way better, the Mountain’s Men will automatically see more play due to his cards.
Qyburn and Pycelle NCUs
Changes – Qyburn to 4pts, and buff Pycelle’s ability.
So Pycelle was changed because he wasn’t picked for lists as much. This couldn’t be further from reality, he is taken in almost every Lannister List I ever see as the power of a Weakened Token, or even the Vulnerable token now is just so useful. He is invaluable in a Tywin and a Vargo led list, and outside of these Commanders he always adds value. It is odd to now give him some diversity in what value he gives because if he is not already cemented as an auto-include then he is now.
Qyburn was and still is a worse Varys. Varys now being 4pts alongside Qyburn still makes him less useful. He does open the door for Ser Robert Strong to be added to your list, but 3pts Attachments were only ever worth it with the old Relentless rule. I could see his abilities being useful in some situations like the Crown effect being useful for Bolton Commanders, or the Swords effect for a drastic drop in dice like Spearmen dropping 3 dice. Varys just has better buffs. CMON will have to make the effects for Qyburn better rather than nerfing Varys, as the nerf option would see them both not played, the points change is not enough to see Qyburn used more.
Some odd but welcomed changes to these Attachments.
Tyrion Lannister – Attachment
Changes – Add Battle Plan order to Attachment.
1pts for Battle Plan and Counterstrategy? Insane. There are many game modes where I want to bring a Guardsmen Unit to sit on an objective like a pillar and not shift. This is a perfect little cheap bunker to throw Tyrion into so you can cycle through your deck for the right card. This could be a crucial powerful card and I can see this being usable with Kevan or Gregor. The only problem is, the Lannister Deck got a lot better, so you may not want to dump some of the cards away.
Sentinel Enforcer – Attachment
Changes – Rework Taunt order.
Fortunately, this card has been updated to Short Range, which is incredibly important, otherwise we would have been surrounded by Taunt to mass generate tokens just like War Cry. Now you need to play it a little bit smarter. A good play would be to put him in a Unit the opponent doesn’t want to charge like Guardsmen or Halberdiers. It can also be used to slow down cavalry as the Taunt does work on their free maneuver.
Taunt was considered an awful ability before and is now being considered for competitive play. This change was an incredible leap for the ability to a point where you will see it being played quite often.
Summary
A very positive bunch of changes for the faction. The Base Deck and Commanders are the most important improvements here as the faction was propped up by Kevan Lannister and Addam Marbrand, but now can experiment with other Commanders like Joffrey and Gregor.
The Unit changes for the most part is brilliant, however the Honour Guard again fall short at glory and the City Watch are destined to indirectly be nerfed due to the Golden Company Swordsmen. The Mountain’s Men and Pyromancers see much welcomed changes to bring them in line with the rest of the Units in the faction.
The NCUs are bonkers, and the Attachments are nice little changes. I suspect that the next update will focus on Units and Attachments since both Lannisters and Starks have had such few changes, but all here are great buffs to the Lannisters.
We may be looking at one of the better factions for the next season of the game as I expect them to perform very well in the coming months.
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