WotNW League - Game Week 1 round up.

Welcome to the first (and maybe only) Wardens of the North West league weekly review.

Amazingly there’s been 7 games played in the first week with most players managing to squeeze in two games since we started. Somehow the only player not to sort himself out a game was tournament organiser Greg, he did however take the time to play against our newest recruit, Jamie, in a very friendly game. He's since been added to the league, bringing us up to a total of ten committed members battling it out to be the ‘One True Warden of the North-West’.

The league is structured such that commander use is limited to the seven that were submitted before the season and they may only be used on a rotation, which adds an extra level of mind games to the tactics already being played. Bring the best commander against the stronger player in the hopes of sneaking some points? or take them against those more evenly matched in order to secure victory? Brian’s done away with all this nonsense by pre-preparing his lists then rolling for which one to play - a tactic that saw him open strong with a crushing win - the true master of the game.

The league officially opened with Ste taking on Mr Ray, Starks vs Baratheons. Eddard vs Renly. The ‘home’ player gets to select the game mode giving a slight advantage (if you know what’s going on) and Ste had gone with Honed and Ready. With the hype amongst The Wardens building pictures and updates flowed fast into the group chat.

Ste kicked things off with this picture of his sweet new gaming table :)

Not a pair for a cagey start the game turned tasty quickly, first points went to Ray and by turn three was up 6-4.

Things were looking good for the Baratheons who were still leading in the mid game 5-7, but the Starks started to gain momentum, with the game heading into a nail biting round 6 all tied at 9-9.

Then just like that we had our first league match winner! Ste piping victory from Ray 12-10 in what sounded like a very close opening game. He could have done a better job looking happy about it though.

Game 2 - Dale, being the home player opted to pick Game of Thrones, mode to face off against Alex. Another nice twist of the league is the advantage of picking the Game Mode when playing the 'home' side. Bringing the Greatjon to face off against Alex’s Vargo Hoat. Neither commander is rated highly in the ELO Stats rankings, so it should be an evenly matched game. Alex opt’d to deploy first, dropping ‘balerion the black dread’ on the table…...

Once the cat was moved the real battle could take place, Starks v Lannisters. A very cagey opening couple of turns left the armies staring each other down in Turn two ready to rip chunks out each other in turn three.

Reports came in from Dale that “Lannisters used a tactic card to disable Osha, then Jaimie tried to expert duelist Rickon and once again failed to kill a Stark child, 2-0 to the un-armed children.”

Things weren't looking good for Vargo Hoat, who failed his panic and duly got removed from the board. The turn ended Lannisters 8, Starks 7. On the other side of the board Jamie Lannister saved the day with his auto wounds, killing the berzerkers and winning the game! Dales wrap up of the game: ‘Lannister’s shit 5’s, not gold.’ Next up, Andy who’d been giving his army a lovely makeover earlier in the day ready to take on Brian's pre rolled Neutrals. Daario's Mercenaries v Belwas's Targaryens in a Dance with Dragons. Obviously the league is live and I’ve already mentioned the result, but the full battle in all it’s glory can be read here on Brians Blog so check that out.

And with those at home games out the way we headed into Super Thursday, which would see myself take on Dale and Colin take on Andy, along with Jamie and Gregs friendly match, down at the club, it was great to have three full tables!

Having recently discovered Stats’ Match Predictor I thought I’d give it a go, and was disappointed to find I only have a 43% chance of winning if my opponent doesn’t turn up, luckily my first league match went better.

I brought Erik ‘Anvil Breaker’ Ironmaker to face off against Rodrick Cassel. This would be Dales second game of the league and after the first I knew he’d been keen to bounce back. I’d selected Game of Thrones, mainly because I don’t know what I’m doing but also in an attempt to limit the tokens against what I thought might be a very manoeuvrable stark army. Dale opened aggressively pushing his berserkers up to claim the token, however it had been forgotten that Victarian Greyjoy is an absolute monster, and he duly smashed through the beserkers and surged up to flank the stark bowmen. At this point things looked bleak for the Starks, but they still managed to apply pressure and killed Victarian even after What is Dead May Never Die had kept him in play. Erik Ironmaker ultimately finished off Rodrick in his bastards girls to take the win.

Across the room the new Q3 toys were out and causing havoc. Cols Nights Watch headed by Joer had unleashed Cold Hands to take on Andys Drogo Targ list. Cold Hands came back from the death more times than one would expect, which given how good his model is would be a shame if he wasn’t on the table all the time. The game ultimately ended 8-10 with one wound being the difference between a contested token and the winning points.

Game six! Howland Reed vs Jamie Lannister. Alex opt’d to take Jamie Lannister Commander to this battle, the commander ELO ratings suggests it would be an uphill struggle against Ste’s starks with Howland, but what a game we got! Watching the games pan out in real time round by round updates makes me miss watching football on teletext.

Turn four ended with the Lannister’s 9 to the Starks 7, but the Starks where not done yet.

Turn five was a draw 11 a piece and by turn 6 Andy had switched from the brewdog to something stronger, embracing his inner Tyrion. A tight turn six ended in a Stark win, Lannister’s 13 Starks 15. Ste’s second win of the week put him top of the table, scoring two crushing victories with no units lost. Hopefully someone can fix that next week.

In the final game before this write up Col and Ray faced off. Col clearly isn’t messing round here and brought Othell to the kitchen table to fight off Ray and his Eldon list, again a strong Baratheon Commander in a Feast For Crows. Turn 3 ended in a 5-5 draw, and the game continued in that fashion being 7-7 a turn later. Although at this point things where starting to turn in the Nights Watch’s favour. 30 mins later and the final result comes through……. 11-10 to the Baratheons! A failed 3 up charge prevented the Nights watch from taking the score to 11-12 at the death, and so Ray chalked up his first league win.

One week down and 7 games done, 132 unit points destroyed and neither Targaryen’s or Nights Watch to be seen in the top half of the table, it looks like the league is going to get super exciting! Aden.