"Hey. Hey you, Aden."
"Me?"
"Yeah you. Where was weeks 7s report?"
"err........."
"and aren't we in week 9 now?!"
"err........."
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Week 7&8!
This week there's been loads of games!
Only two games can affect the top positions this week, Col vs Brian and Ste vs Andy, these are the only two left competing for the trophy at this point. speaking of which, Mr Ray has made us one! It lights up and everything!
Baratheons vs Targaryen's: Game of Thrones. Andy had only one commander option here ahead of his reset and like me he'd only not used Roose. Despite A Flayed Man Has No Secrets being dropped to cancel Tychos super healing skills, Ray still took this game 11-6 in what I've heard was a close match, but other than that they've been fairly tight lipped on the events, but if my experience of playing both of them is anything to go by Andy's positional play would have been fantastic and Rays card play amazing, both could have been dross for all I know but I've taken a stab in the dark.
Neutrals vs Nights Watch: This fixture means that the you've got another good write up from Brian as Col needed the win to keep Ste from all but running away with the league. It's defo worth the read so head over there, but as its been a few weeks I'm going to spoil it right here, right now. The match ended 13-5. Brian did take an early lead, being 3-2 up after turn 2 but seeing the possible points available to Nights Watch he chose to move of the objective in turn 3 to try and wiped out Sworn Brothers. A risky tactic that very nearly payed off, turn three ended 9-4. With Turn four playing out rather un-eventfully as the game ended 13-5, keeping Colin in the running for top spot on Ste's heals. Side note, Look at all those stacked NW cards:
Starks vs Targaryen's: The only other game effecting the top rankings was Ste's match vs Andy's Targs. Andy wanting get back on his winning streak after his defeat to Mr Ray was looking to bounce back against Ste, especially now the commanders have reset and he had Mother of Dragons ready and waiting. A late Saturday night kick off this one, with the telegram chat eager for updates. As you'd expect Ste deployed in the corner and moved up in turn one to ensure no major holes in his line could be exploited by those flying monsters.
Andy took the early lead going 2-1 up in the Honed and Ready game mode, but Rheagal ended turn two on two wounds after failing a panic test! The turns steadily progressed and by turn 4 it was 4-4. Drogon charged into the Tully Knights not caring about the set for charge, however four wounds from that, then another failed dragon panic test resulted in the death of a dragon, a real game changer, which up to this point was probably in Andy's favour. Below, armour saves on the left, panic saves on the right, good dice skills Andy.
Heading all the way to turn 6 Ste reached 10 points just before Andy, who made it to 7. Andy will need to request a refund on his dice as they are clearly broken.
Despite Andy's busted dice, Ste gets some credit here, taking down MoD with his Starks. With this result Ste remains on top, Col a close second. Ste's last game is against Col on the 9th, but Col still has one more to play, against Alex.
Lannister vs Greyjoy: I played Jamie this week, and completely forgot to take all the start of turn pictures, so we'll be using the theatre of the mind instead. Having only one remaining commander left I didn't have many options with what to bring. So I stuck Roose in some silenced men, picked up my rather unused House Harlaw Reapers and went for a panic based list. Jamie selected Tywin in Halberdiers and chose a dance of dragons.
The game went quite quickly despite it being a 2hr session. I'd planned on keeping the silenced men and reapers in close company for all their panic mechanics, but Jamies setup forced me to shift my reapers out left to prevent flank charges from the Knights of Casterly Rock, and my silenced men went on to join Boltons Bastard Girls in the middle to fight The Mountains Men and Jamie Lannister over the central objective. Jamie (the player, not the maimed incestuous child murderer) really forced my hand in the first two turns, squashing me down the middle of the field by positioning nicely to access all my flanks. Unfortunately though the reapers, being accompanied by Bronn, managed to wipe out the Knights of Casterly Rock at the end of turn two, and that signaled the beginning of the end of the game really.
Once the Cav had been dropped there where little options left for the Lannister army. Jamie did well, but I do think my list was much stronger than his, the game ended 10-4 to the Greyjoys and made me realised I'd really under estimated that particular Roose list - defo be running it again.
Stark vs Free Folk: Ned vs Styr, saw Dale and Greg face off in Fire and Blood. A quite first round (which was surprising) saw everyone move up ready to barney. Raiders, Spearwives, Sworn Shields and Great Axes got marked. Greg moved in charging the great axes with his Spearwives, and Mag the Mighty (Gregs new toy) came out to play and finished them off, 3-0. As I learnt to my own detriment when playing fire and blood, a marked unit killing your marked unit can really swing the game. The free folk played the same game against the Sworn Sheild, double teaming them between the spearwives and Mag, whilst the Raiders hid behind some stakes (shown below, cowards).
Next up on the free folks two man show, saw the Spearwives charge Ned commander activation tokens meant Ned now had 3 VPs on him. before the charge though Tycho, the games default NCU, healed ready to take down everyone's favourite Northern Lord.
Lannister vs Free Folk: Another Greg match as he tried to catch up his missed games from the beginning of the league. This time he brought Mag as the commander for fire and blood, up against Alex and Tywin. This time though round one was more feisty, with three giants in play Alex had some tough choices about who and how to setup. Raiders once again hid behind some stakes (below, once again - cowards), having been marked, along with Savage Giant, Halberdiars and Guardsmen.
First blood went to the Lannister Halberdiars as the Savage Giant took two wounds from the set for charge, unfortunately though planned wounds on the giant only increase it's strength - a wise plan by Greg. Mag baited the Mountains Men but then feigned the charge and drop passed them down the middle. Knights of Castley Rock drove down the side to put pressure on the raiders, but Wun Wun was standing by to block out any flank charges. Round two saw the Halberdiars perform another attack on the Giant dealing two more wounds, but Greg bottled the attack and instead healed him up. Wun Wun took the Knights of Castley Rock charge on like a champ (although the dice below demonstrate why!, 6 dice 3+ to hit). and the Halberdiars shrugged off attacks from the Savage Giant.
Having worn them down the Giant finally managed to see off the Halberdiers in round four - the first death, and gave Greg 4 VPs. The Savage Giant then took his last breath at the hands of the guardsmen and gave 5 VPs to Alex. Swings and round-a-bouts! 'Last of their Kind' card allowed Mag to charge the guardsmen killing them and surging towards the Knights of Castley Rock. Wun Wun and the Knights of Castley Rock where still battling it out each being close to death, but the knights where on the ropes. Mounatins Men got off a rear charge on Mag, but he just wound not die, free retreating Mag away Greg then dropped 'Blitz' to turn a 4+ charge into a 2+ and smashed Mag into the Knights of Castley Rock wiping them out bringing Gregs total to 10.
A close game with Alex's fantastic card play being somewhat moot due to the Giants impressive morale stats. 10-5 to the free folk. Gregg submarining to third?
The league positions are looking more cemented now as we head into the remaining 11 games.
Great write up Aden...
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