Cunning Ploy - The Euron and Harmen Story
After seven weeks of great matches, the finals are my Greyjoys - the same Euron and Balon lists I have been running almost all season - in a rematch against Kale’s Martells. We met in the Group stage of the league where I lost a 1 VP nailbiter, and now after two rounds of single elimination playoffs I am getting a chance for revenge where it matters most.
With the release of the Season Three update for ASOIAF on August 7th 2023, the Greyjoy faction that I have been absolutely loving since late May is changing completely. I’m going to put it out front: I really, really do not like these changes. From my point of view they are clear nerfs to what was already only a middle of the road faction. Everything that I liked about House Greyjoy was thrown out in favor of a refocus on their Pillage mechanic which is still…not good. The base Tactics deck was changed completely, and almost all of those changes were strict downgrades. Many of the combat units I have come to rely on were made significantly worse through reduced morale to account for the Pillage “buff” (which given that nearly every unit in the faction had their morale reduced hardly qualifies as one at the end of the day, but whatever) while the faction that punished the poor morale of Greyjoys the hardest got major buffs. On top of that, the NCU lineup for Greyjoys was absolutely gutted, with Wendamyr and Beron Blacktyde - who together helped keep the faction viable - losing most of their value. It is truly a sad state of affairs for Greyjoys, and I will not be continuing with them in this version of the game. Even if their overall power level ends up being OK, the change in focus and total reliance on Pillage really makes the faction seem incredibly one-dimensional compared to the surprising variety of decent ways to build them we had available before this patch. I hope that in a future update things improve and I can go back to Pyke, but until then, this will be their last hurrah.
Time to win one for the Gipper!
Pre-Game
My lists remain the same:
Game Mode: A Dance with Dragons
Opponent: Kale, with Martells
Since the S03 update went live and the good folks at asoiaf-stats managed to get the site rolled over to the new rules on the same day (which is incredible, by the way - good on them, well done, and thank you), I don’t have a reference copy of both of Kale’s lists to look at (one of them isn’t legal anymore, because of the reduction in the Neutral cap). List one is a Harmen Uller special with double Skirmishers and double Royal Guard (with Harmen in one of the Skirmishers). List two is another Harmen Uller look, this one featuring double Bolton Flayed Men, Harmen in Spears, and a unit of Skirmishers (I think). Both lists feature Doran, Petyr, and Ellaria Sand.
We draw A Dance with Dragons for the game mode and both of us think very hard about our list choice. Taking the 9 activation list is generally going to be my best option, but I am a little worried about what double Flayed Men might do to my frail little Bowmens when backed up by Harmen’s healing. On the other hand, I know that Kale will need to be holding 2 objectives most of the game if he’s going to win it, which in all likelihood means one of the Flayed Men stuck without a ton of mobility while I drill arrow volleys into it. If Kale chooses the non-Cavalry list, I am pretty sure I will have the tools to win thanks to an activation advantage and all of Euron’s tricksy nonsense, so I end up locking that in. Kale opts for the double Skirmishers setup, and we set up the board.
I win the terrain roll so it’s my choice first. I considered the classic Low Wall over the center objective, but with Kale’s deck including Cunning Ploy I can’t really afford to just give one of his units of Royal Guard a chance to snatch it with favorable terrain. Plus, the turbo aggressive play would leave Euron vulnerable to Scout Openings + Quickfire from the pair of Skirmishers, so I decide it would be better to try and get one of his units stuck in mid where all the bows could fire at the same thing. To make that easier to do, I place a Bog over the middle objective.
In hindsight, maybe I should have thrown the wall out as bait. If Kale had gone for it, I would have been able to try and War Cry + Sow Discord Harmen before opening up on the Royal Guard with all three units of Bows, and with my activation advantage I wouldn’t have to commit Euron to grabbing the marker until the end of the round, sparing me the worst of his offense if he elected not to go for it. Then a double Wendamyr Shift and a maneuver or horse cap would scooch the egg away from danger. Who knows? Either way, I went with the Bog.
Kale’s first choice is a corpse pile on one flank edge. I decide immediately I’m conceding that side of the map to him, because the open field of fire for Skirmishers means a Drowned Man trying to snatch an objective is at risk of a Scout Openings + Quickfire disaster, on top of the Horrifying keyword pushing the already not-great morale in 3/6 of my combat units into dangerous territory. Instead of placing terrain to attempt to mitigate the effect of the Corpse Pile, I elect to drop a Forest to my right, positioning it such that no terrain piece could be put down that would totally cover the right side objective and such that the trees were well within range of the center objective for the bows to fire at, if it became necessary.
My opponent’s second terrain piece essentially mirrors my own, only a little farther from center. Kale I am assuming wants a way to limit the number of units of bows shooting at one of his units to one in the early game, which makes sense to me. In the end, Kale gets choice of sides and selects the one I set up. Good call on his part, as the position of that forest is pretty choice for me if I get it as planned.
Kale’s deployment starts with a unit of Skirmishers, and I respond with Drowned Men positioned so a march will hide them in the woods on my left. We alternate from there and thanks to my unit advantage I have nearly perfect information about what is going where as we set up. I know from experience that I have to make sure I’m not running Drowned Men out to be killed by Kale’s Skirmishers, so the second one gets tucked in safely behind my lines where it can support 2 out of 3 units of Bows. Asha stays next to Euron, in range for War Cry into the two units we’ll be fighting against in the middle of the map.
Round 1
We draw our starting hands and I choose to go first. As we’re still playing with 2021 S02 units, Doran is worth 2 points per round once he gets spun up. This means just allowing him to roll up tokens is a bad plan. Going first in round 2 does mean you can delay him without spending a Baelish order, but I feel that’s very weak compared to doing it in round 1, especially given that I know I’m not planning to try and snag the center objective with Euron and Wendamyr shifts. My opening hand features a Cunning Ploy, so I’ll be able to easily get great firing positions with all 3 units of bows by just leaving the spare Drowned Men behind before marching them up to support the bows in round 2.
Stalling Doran in round 1 also means that if the game goes to round 5 and it’s necessary, I have the option of denying a token again, which will mean that a sixth round will have to be played if Doran is goin to earn any points at all, and hold his maximum earnings to two VP. On top of that, by forcing Kale to activate a combat unit first, I increase the amount of information at my disposal when it comes to my early positioning, and that has more value in round 1 than it does in round 2, when I’ll be a lot more concerned with taking zones that are actually good for me (as opposed to merely inconvenient for Doran).
Anyway, round 1 sees me do exactly that: Petyr stands on Swords, triggering Water Gardens, and Wendamyr converts bags into an Order token. We do a little more jockeying for position, and Euron marches ahead and hits the naked Skirmishers (who had relocated via a Cunning Ploy, I think) with a speculative Sow Discord that prevents Quickfire from collecting any scalps on the units I am bringing up. Drowned Men on the left flank march forward, hiding in the shrubs as planned, as do the bows on that side. Asha takes up a position covering Euron’s flank. If Kale elects to ignore the objective in front of him (which I am about 85% sure cannot happen, given his list) and come fight me, I would much rather have those Royal Guard charging Asha in the front than Euron in the flank. Funnily enough, the precise position of this tray of bows ends up being extremely awkward for me. It would have been much better to have left them facing straight ahead and rely on a maneuver or Wendamyr shift to reposition if the Royal Guard pushed up toward an engagement.
The Drowned Men hanging out in the back donate an activation to a unit of bows who march forward and then start the Finger Dance. Even with rerolls from the safely hidden Drowned Men, the bows in the center don’t make much of a dent in Kale’s Skirmishers.
On the other side of the table, the flank edge Royal Guard march at top speed toward the healing objective, Harmen’s Skirmishers pull up just out of bowshot, and the more centrally located Royal Guard get themselves in range to march onto the center objective without committing themselves to getting shot up too badly first.
Importantly, Kale discards something like four cards this round trying to dig to his good stuff. The Euron list is immune to Dune Tactics and Superior Positioning, and Sand Diplomacy was not at all what he was looking for given how things were unfolding.
Round 2
Somehow I managed not to take a picture of the game state at the end of round 2, so I can’t recall exactly what NCU went where. I belive Doran collected his first token by claiming Crowns, though it might have been Water Gardens. Either way, I Wendamyr shift the left-flank bows forward to tap the objective, give them rerolls with the Drowned Men, and shift them backward with their attack to end up in basically the same position, just slightly farther forward to ensure that Kale’s Skirmishers are unable to scamper ahead and kill the Drowned Men with their order combo.
Euron this round goes for Sow Discord on Harmen’s unit at the start of Kale’s turn but the Skirmishers pass their morale test. This means that Harmen is able to reposition and then use Supply Aid to feed more wounds to the Skirmishers that are getting bloodied up on the left flank, and then be healed up with the wounds from the objective holding Spearmen after they march to capture it. I pick up and use Kale’s Cunning Ploy with Devious Methods to get a better angle on his Royal Guard and begin shooting them as they’ve marched into the mud to grab the token in mid. The Drowned Men I left behind early on catch up with the team and lend a hand with some rerolls, but nothing apocalyptic happens. Euron charges the Royal Guard at the end of the round, but rolls only two hits which just bounce off the Shield Wall.
When all is said and done, Kale scores 2 points to my 1, and we head into round 3.
Round 3
round 3 I am going first, and with Kale holding the center objective it’s crucial that I force a failed Panic test or kill these Royal Guard. I tank for a bit before I elect to try a Sow Discord on the Royal Guard. This will be backed up with Asha’s War Cry and Euron’s Intimidating Presence, plus taking a rank off with an attack (if I’m lucky), for a 7+ test with a reroll if I need it, which as I know from prior experience is a 72% chance of disabling Shield Wall and Martial Training on a very killy unit, opening up an opportunity for Euron to actually land a telling blow and perhaps snowball the game from there.
So putting the plan into action, I War Cry with Asha, giving a Panic token to the Royal Guard, then activate Petyr, take the Bags, and trigger Swords. This ends up being a terrible play with the benefit of hindsight. I know that Doran must claim Letters or Horses this round, so the smarter move would have been to take Horses with Petyr (still triggering the free attack from Swords). If Kale takes an action off to heal, I can drop Mind Games on the Letters zone and claim Swords with Varys, which now means that getting his Doran order means I draw up to three cards and throw out a token. He is essentially locked in to taking Letters with Doran with his next Activation, but I fail to take that into account.
On Kale’s turn, Supply Aid from Harmen tops up the Royal Guard, while Sow Discord removes the Royal Guard’s abilities, which is supposed to be very good for me. Doran grabs Letters, weakening something. It might have been Blackguard, or that may have come later via Ellaria. Either way, Euron was Weakened most of this round. I want to keep Kale from directly claiming Swords so I play Mind Games there and shoot his Royal Guard some more. This of course is braindead, because given what’s on the board and who is yet to activate, I should just be claiming the zone with Varys or Wendamyr and taking my own shot instead. In fact, if I had just done this, there’s every possibility that I all but win the game this round instead of ultimately trading Euron for the Guard, because it would have meant Kale having to activate the Guard for what comes next. Mind games will remain a card in Euron’s deck that is very powerful but can lose you the game if you misplay it - interesting design, but a bad play by me in this one.
Kale uses Baelish’s once per game to control Swords, then sends him to the Water Gardens but spends a token for a free attack (see how bad this Mind Games was?), swinging with the Royal Guard. He has Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken to automatically pass the Horrifying Visage panic test, which gets stuck to Euron, making his morale an 8+. More back and forth stuff happens - I am firing into the Royal Guard like crazy trying to bring them down, but Kale has all kinds of resources to commit to keeping them alive. Eventually I am forced to retreat Euron from the Royal Guard using the second Cunning Ploy stolen from Kale’s discard pile with Devious Mehtods as they keep passing Panic checks from getting shot, while Euron keeps failing them. At one point in all this, Harmen shoots Asha, misses with all 7 dice, and then because she automatically passes the panic test is able to Spiteful Truce, undoing a lot of the work I’ve put in to this point on the Royal Guard. A turn or two later he actually has to charge Asha with Harmen’s Skirmishers to tie them up so they can’t shoot the Guard again. Asha is a monster though and I roll something like four sixes, taking only a single wound.
The Bowmen to Euron’s left are now exposed to a 2+ charge from the Guard, who have rerolls in spite of the Hindering terrain thanks to Battle Endurance. Luck is on my side here though, and the charge comes up a failure, stranding them in a bad spot While all of this is going on, my Drowned Men on the left side of the board square off with Kale’s other unit of Skirmishers, trading some resources but not really accomplishing anything apart from distracting us from the more critical situation developing in the middle of the map.
Finally, Wendamyr claims swords in a last-ditch effort to take the damn Guard out with a shot from some Weakened Bowmen. I get two wounds through and Kale finally fails a panic test on a 6+ for 3 wounds, finishing the unit off. My own Mind Games gives Kale a free attack but I am not punished very hard for it, with the Skirmishers only having 5 dice to throw at my Bowmen, who make the first of several improbable panic tests this game and retain their objective marker. The Guard’s token drops, and I use Euron’s Activation to recover it. At the end of the round, the score is 4-3 for me, but Euron is sitting there on one wound with an active Rhoynish Vengeance on him.
Just to point it out again: that Mind Games on Swords almost single-handedly lost me this game. Because I did that, Kale got to make two extra attacks he wasn’t entitled to, plus attempt a charge he otherwise wouldn’t have been able to try with his Royal Guard. I was extremely lucky he failed it. On the other side of the coin, his Royal Guard passed a ton of panic tests while tied up with Euron’s Intimidating Presence in the middle of the map any one of which might have taken them out much earlier in the round.
Round 4
Euron is going to die without a doubt, so it’s Sow Discord time. Harmen’s Skirmishers are in range of a Corpse Pile, which causes them to fail their Morale test. Rather than let me do something worthwhile with the activation, Kale elects to execute Euron and collect another Doran order off of Crowns. I remember at this point wanting quite badly to claim Swords and shoot Harmen in the flank, but being unable to. I may have just gone for Swords and a Melee attack with Asha’s Bowmen to start with. At some point the other unit of bows gets maneuvered into Harmen’s flank, and We Do Not Sow and Asha’s actual activation take out Kale’s Commander, making the score 5-4 in my favor. I manage to hang on to the objective with the left flank Bows again here and shift Asha onto the one that Euron dropped at the start of the round. After scoring, we head into round 5 with me ahead 7 to 5. It’s important to note that with the last activation of the round, I claimed Water Gardens, so Kale’s first move in round 5 must be a Combat Unit.
Round 5
Kale has an incredibly narrow path to victory here that involves killing at least one of my units (6 points), scoring two objectives (8 points), and keeping at least one unit alive and scoring an objective in round 6 to end up with 11 points because of Doran to my 10, or maybe 11, if things work out for me (and I would win a tie, since I’d still have 17-ish points of units left on the field). If I allow Doran to start generating VP this round, the margin of error becomes much wider, as any outcome that doesn’t involve me winning the game this round will be almost assuredly a guaranteed win for him, thanks to an extra 2 VP.
As an aside, this is why Doran needed to be toned down in Season 3. No, he is not unbeatable, but the enormous swing he creates in the late game is very punishing. I personally would have liked to see him only need three tokens if he’s generating a single point per round (thus a maximum of 4 VP are available, compared to the six he could generate originally) or have some other minor buff to make up for the loss in overall power level. Regardless, some kind of change for him was certainly necessary so here we are.
Anyway, I take the zones in the order that I need to to make sure Doran isn’t earning anything this round while tightening the noose on Kale’s remaining Skirmishers. He sticks a Rising Temperatures to my Bows that are holding an objective, and is able to charge them with his Skirmishers. They don’t die outright here but the followup Crown zap does them in, and Kale collects the objective. At this point the Skirmishers are sitting on 1 remaining Wound and Kale is out of gas. I have Wendamyr grab an Order token, shift the Drowned Men backwards to get them into line of sight, and charge with Kraken’s Wrath which gives his unit a Panic token and my Drowned Men Precision. The first set of dice shows a six, I claim the objective, and that’s the game.
Final: 10-7. Euron wins!
What a final game. Kale is always a great opponent, and both of us walked away from this one feeling like we’d given it our best shot. We spend a long time chatting about the game, and about what we’re excited for in Season 3, and the possible menace that will be Golden Company Swordsmen for the next little while. Kale pointed out after the game that I won it without playing What is Dead May Never Die. That might be the first time that’s ever happened, in retrospect. I did have one in my hand in round 5, but Rising Temps prevented me from playing it. Weird.
It truly is a bittersweet victory for me, though. As I said before: this patch turned the Greyjoy faction into something that I am simply not interested in playing with. There’s still things there to like, and the playstyle is more aligned with the “fantasy viking” aesthetic I suppose, but compared to the way they worked before I think it comes out very one-dimensional. I would be less annoyed by this change if the end result wasn’t a faction that more or less plays just like Starks used to: all gas, no brakes, with duct tape holding the fenders on.
On the bright side, House Stark has had a significant number of changes, and I am excited to build lists for them for the first time since the collateral damage nerfs to Hardened and War Cry in Season 2. A somewhat major buff to Crannogman Trackers, an interesting change to Tully Cavaliers, a point reduction for an incredible but hardly played NCU (Eddard Stark, Hand of the King) and a large number of changes to the core Tactics deck as well as many Commander attachments and cards have substantially shifted the landscape in Starks, so I’ll be headed back to Winterfell for awhile as I figure out how all the pieces fit together.
And if that doesn’t work out? Well, there’s a bunch of boxes full of red plastic sitting next to the hobby desk…
PEACE,
Craig
