Rejuvenated after the Nationals and the break after, here I am back at it with another iteration of the giants list, this time with an added Varamyr and friends. Across the field are some old friends, and some new faces - Joffrey and the Kingsguard, and Pyromancers.
The first two battle rounds we just played the positioning game, tried to do missions and exchanged them with NCUs and with my commander activation. There was just one big event: Varamyr took the far right objective, and the Lannisters played a crown on him with some added cards, and he failed his panic and just died. This was a handicap as I lost as steady income of points I was supposed to be getting from holding the objective, and also put the Lannisters ahead.
With the center objective worth an additional 2 points, I walked a giant on it. Joffrey went cat hunting with the Kingsguard. The cat died on the first activation, but it was a waste of resources so I let it happen.
With the cat dead, I circled the wolves back instead. Mag still at this starting position, having exchanged missions every turn.
I managed to sneak another favorable mission in: engaging enemies with less ranks for points. So I sent in the center giant to fight the poor fellows - an otherwise miserable choice. I wish I had a 4 point unit as tanky as that. But then I could march the spear thrower on to the center.
The Pyromancers were taking hits every turn from Mance, and the Lannister healing mostly went there.
Knights sneaked into my backfield for another mission, but I countered by sending the wolves in.
By the beginning of battle round 4, it was 6-5 for the Lannisters.
I charged my backfield giant into the knights. They eventually lost that fight.
Joffrey charged the center giant, killing her; then I played Last Of Their Kind to hit the poor fellows with my other giant, killing them.
During battle round 5, we were at 9 points each, but the Pyromancers held the left objective (curse you for dying Varamyr) and the Lannisters were seemingly winning by that 1 point at the end of the round.
I theorized possibly running Mag up the field but I had no range on anything, he was just too far in the back. So instead, I switched missions around until the one came up with engaging enemies with less ranks. With my center giant engaging the Kingsguard, this was a 2 points swing by denying them the center objective and getting a point for the mission.
10-10 at the end of round 5, with me winning on tiebreaker: points on the table.
Conclusion
I really did learn a lot during the Nationals and went at the game with renewed vigor. I played the missions to the best of my abilities, and given the early setback of losing Varamyr, I think I brought the game back pretty well.
For my list, Varamyr and his friends really are a game changing element. Even though the animals only functioned as distractions in the end, they pulled Joffrey and his strong unit from the center and gave him something to waste his resources on instead of holding an objective.
I felt the lack of a 3rd NCU, but the list would have been much weaker if I took out a giant. Plus, Mance did good in the Pyromancers by reducing their numbers and consuming the heals.
The giants are fun, but they do require thought.
For the Lannisters, the Kingsguard are scary. I thought about putting Mance in them to prepare the field for a Mag charge, but I decided on a slow play maneuver instead. Had Varamyr survived, this would have been a good move. I got the feeling the Kingsguard could die easily to something that ignores saves, but only if I also ignore orders. Tough to pull off.
The Poor Fellows are laughably tanky. If Raiders did that, I'd bring 10 units and no NCUs.
Pyromancers did not actively do anything, and perhaps some Crossbowmen would have been better by having a long ranged attack. But they held me back, held an objective for points, and I did not send a giant into them for fear of Sir Robert Strong's auto wounds.
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