ASOIAF Miniatures/Tactics/Lannister

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Why Play Lannister

Hear Me Roar"/"A Lannister Always Pays His Debts"/"Tywinn shits gold"/"MY HAND!!!"

You are a dick in real life, and want to be one in the game too. So you play this factions. Or you think money can buy you everthing (it can actually if you are rich enough). Lannisters are the richest factions and can buy the coolest shit. You are the faction build around tricks and defense

Pros

• Lots of denial and debuff
• Toolbox approach to units
• Good defense
• The Mountain who rides
• Some of the strongest glass cannon in the game

Cons

• Moral is kinda crap in general
• Panic bomb got nerfed
• Toolbox approach to units
• No offense increase via effects
• No free action either in attack or movement
• no movement tricks

Playstyle

House Lannister is about tricks. You debuff their offense and their option, you ensure you stay in a good position. After you are sure, you apply your specialized units to the task they are best at, then you pat yourself on the back you lazy fuck. Generally you are a defensive factions, and your offense is via Abilities and NCU. If you do take the iniative you mostly deal wounds via panic.

Unit and Attachement Analysis

You have 2 theme in your unit choices. The Lannister troops are all pretty well armored, have average to bad moral and help deal panic dmg. The Faith of the Seven troops have excellent moral and play around with their own moral

Commander

• Jaime Lannister: Mostly defensive and gets a better effect out of his cards if its his unit benefiting from them but doesnt really have the impact that other commanders have, doesn't see too much tournament play for that very reason but he can be very fun to use.

• Gregor Clegane: Relentless, Gregor is what you choose if all you want is to crush your enemy's head with your bare hands, his cards can combo with each other with quick and dirty combat buffs that have increased effect if the unit has the "Clegane" affiliation so he benefits from bringing Sandor and Mountain's Men to get the most out of them.

• Tywin Lannister: Gives "Lannister Supremacy" to the unit he attaches to and Weakens an enemy unit whenever his unit activates, all his cards get increased effect if the target is Weakened so it really benefits to bring Pycele along. He'll dull the enemy's attack like no other commander does so if you wanna play a more directly defensive type of style he's your guy.

• Tyrion Lannister: Very strong, his cards depend on having the Letters spot on the Influence board and are focused on giving you more cards or stumping your enemy's own, he can burn through your and your opponent's tactics deck and if the game goes long enough he allows you to cherry pick cards from your discard pile (which should be all of them). He's easily one of the strongest commanders for the faction if not the game.

• Joffrey Baratheon: Not used very much since he gives 3 VPs if he dies and his cards have negative effects for you, though the positive effects are one of the strongest in the game. He's a high risk high reward kind of guy so you need to build your list around him if you want to use him.

• High Sparrow: Our only in-faction NCU Commander and one of the strongest of the lineup, he synergizes with his intended combat units (Faith) like no other commander and his cards can be hair pullingly frustrating, his army will tend towards wound restoration and tough as nails morale sort of tankiness and can deal a surprising amount of damage through the use of Faith tokens (of which you'll have plenty). Very fun to use though the units he supports can only be purchased on their own so they might run a bit expensive, but you're a Lannister, money is not an issue.

Units

• Lannister Guardsmen (5pt): Your bread and butter melee unit, very defensive with a 3+ save and an in-built defensive ability in Lannister Supremacy, stick them on an objective and they have a good chance of holding it for a long time, considering giving them a Guard Captain if you don't want to run them naked to ensure that Lanniser Supremacy always goes off. Though with 4 movement and a 6/5/3 attack profile they can hardly afford to go on the offensive and even if they doo they'll dish out more wounds from Lannister Supremacy than their longswords.

• Poor Fellows (5pt): Your other bread and butter unit, faith edition. Despite their 6+ save they are much more tankier than your would have believe, a 3+ moral ensures they will almost never fail a panic check which many units require to wipe out a tray and their ability to easily regenerate wounds helps them recover. Much like Guardsmen they rely on their ability to do the majority of their damage though their ability rather than their attacks so they like the meatgrinder. They unsurprising pair VERY well with the Champion of the Faith attachment which again helps them regen more mmodels and gives them an easy way to generate faith tokens.

• House Clegane Mountain's Men (6pt): Mountain's Men are very simple, you want them to be in combat as soon as possible, with critical bow and vicious they can do serious damage to a unit though with a 4+ save and a subpar 7+ they can't take a lot of punishment in return. Another unit that a Guard Captain can fix but it's normally better to put The Mountain in to up their strengths rather than softening their weakness.

• Lannister Crossbowmen (6pt): 7/7/3 attacks with Long Range and Sundering is fantastic, however this also means they are normally target number one for any dudes on horseback, so keep them protected. A guard captain is always a good idea as an 8+ leadership is one of the worst in the game. Use them to shoot at any wolf or Jorah you can see for a free VP, to soften up a unit before a charge, or use them to shoot at a unit camping an objective to force them to come to you.

• Lannister Halberdiers (6pt): Another very defensive unit, their order Set For Charge lets them lets them attack a charging unit with 8 Sundering attacks which can give you extra control of the board as no unit really want so be around them to eat that attack.

• Pyromancers (7pt): If you look up the definition of glass cannon you'll see these guys. They die easy but kill even faster if they can get there. Wildfire is a great way to crack open high armour targets. One of the most fun units in the game to use, they love anything that can give them extra attacks and work well with The Mountain or Jaime for full scorched earth.

• Knights of Casterly Rock (8pt): The gold standard of cavalry, though with Lannisters did you expect anything else? The wealthiest motherfuckers around and they give you the mobility you desperately need, since they have a 3+ save and Lannister Supremacy they can take a hit as well as a Guardsmen but you want them to be constantly charging to make good use of their Lance ability.

• Warrior's Sons (8pt): Your other Faith unit these dudes have two different abilities, one offensive and one defensive that require Faith Tokens to use, using a faith token to hand out panicked and vulnerable give them good offensive output letting them kill units the Poor Fellows cannot. while getting a +1 or +2 to their save means that they will not die when brought down a rank or two, put Barristan Selmy on them to give them even more solid morale and a better wound regen than the Champion of the Faith.

• The Mountain That Rides (4pt): Your cheapest unit points cost but not price wise. A Kickstarter exclusive model so good luck finding one or even being able to use him, that said 4 points for a couple of auto-wounds and a guaranteed Panicked on horse legs is a good deal.

Non-Combat Units

• Pycelle (3pt): Weakens an enemy whenever he activates, at such a low price its hard to argue since he directly synergizes with practically everything in your army by selectively blunting your enemys attacks.

• Cersei (4pt): Giving an enemy unit -2 morale is great, and it can be used with the Crown spot to consistenly chip away at you enemy through morale. A hilarious tactic is to use her to take the crown, debuff a units morale, have them take a panic test and hit them with "Hear me Roar" to have them take it at Panicked -4 or more and zap away even the bravest of units.

• Joffrey Baratheon (4pt): Counting as holding the Crown independent of where you put him is VERY strong make no mistake, if he takes the Bag spot he turns on the *WHOLE* basic Lannister tactics deck and while panicked on one of your units will definetely sting he is definetely worth considering if you want to save a bit on NCUs.

• Tywin Lannister (4pt): Completely screw over a unit at the start of a turn once per game. Thats it, and its very strong, especially if your enemy is running a deathstar, but that means you should know your opponent before choosing him.

• Tyrion Lannister (4pt): The Trolliest of NCUs, bigger hand size and forcing your oponent show you 2 cards and have them discard one of them will ensure you have the advantage in the tactics card game, take him if you really want your opponent to be frustrated playing againts you.

Attachements

• Preston Greenfield: Drawing more cards is always good but make sure you can capitalize on the benefit.

• Meryn Trant: Applies a condition token on an enemy when he activates, versatile so he can pretty much go anywhere.

• Arys Oakheart: Defensive Buff, simple though its effectiveness will depend on where you put him in.

• Boros Blount: Offensive Buff, good stuff since you usually dont have that many autowounds outside of Poor fellows, goes swimingly with Mountains men.

• Jaime Lannister - Kingsguard: Snipe an attachment or 1 autowound is very good, put him on something that'll survive in the thick of it and send him towards something that really needs his attachment.

• Mandon Moore: Offensive buff, great on Halberdiers.

• Sandor Clegane: Hurts you unit to give them Vicious and +1 to hit, good on Halbediers and better still if your commander is The Mountain.

• Jaime Lannister - The Young Lion: More consistent attacks on your unit, Pyromancers love him.

• Tyrion Lannister: Turns off your enemies tricks when fighting a unit but you're probably running him as a commander since he does more stuff and he'll be free.

• Barristan Selmy: Better morale, restore wounds if you have the Crown and pass a morale test, very good on faith units.

• Gregor Clegane: more attacks and sundering, also makes your unit less controled but charges reliably if you lose that control. He's a very obvious tool and that doesnt make him any less terrifying, hes downright disgusting with his own Mountains Men but in the end he just makes a melee unit that much more hard hitting.

• Gregor Clegane (Cav): Hard to find his Cavalry Attachment Card but he's very strong since he deals d3 autowounds in melee and deals a Panicked token when he charges, he obviously goes on Knights of Casterly Rock.

• Champion of the Faith: Tests morale and restores a wound on a fail and 2 on a success, he obviously goes very well on Poor Fellows.

• Guard Captain: Kill one of your guys to autopass a panic test, your easy Lannister Supremacy Trigger and as such goes very well on Guardsmen

• Assault Veteran: Not used very much since his ability requires you to already be engaged when you activate, so he's a little slow, a shame since his mini is verry pretty.

• Maimed Jaime: You attach him to an enemy unit, whenever they activate thay take D3 hits and if the unit is destroyed they grant an additional VP. Put him on an enemy unit that cant really afford to cconstantly take hits (bad armor save) and panic tests (bad morale) and he'll might be an easy extra VP.

Building your Army

As always, your list depends on your commander and objective. Make a list which can make use of your commanders ability and tactics card.

In general you want around 7+ activation in your army. Most everyone wants 3 NCU, and Lannister also like 3 as this allows them to steal a spot, someone else wanted. Also it gives you a NCU to claim the highly contested letters spot.

Your faction more then any other factions are highly dependent on the commander.

Sample List:

Tactics Deck

General rule of thumbs in ASOIAF Miniature Game is to play your card more often then just keeping them in your hand and combo them if you can to one-shot units. You are Lannisters, you will probably throw them out faster then anyone else. You have some very specific condition and situational cards, you struggle is to determine, when do you just toss a card or when do you keep them.

Your general Tactics deck is kinda lackluster in general, but if you use them right, you will feel like a genius. Though you have no offense increasing cards, in general your commander cards are just better.

But a perfect card, can stop the foes plan in its track

• Hear me Roar!: apply a -2 to -4 debuff to morale when an enemy takes a panic test and if you control the Crown spot they become Panicked, with how easy it is to trigger panic tests you will definetly find an opportunity to use it.

• Fealty to the Crown: When you enemy fails a panic test you can heal one wound on a unit unit for each model they lost, if you have the crown you can heal up to 2 wounds on any unit. Good on the attrition game and since we trigger and basically make sure our enemies *always* fail their panic tests you're gonna get use out of this card for sure.

• Wealth of the Rock: +1 to armor save and if you control the Bag spot you block d3 hits automatically, can really save your bacon whether you use it to protect expensive or cheaper units.

• Intrigue and Subterfuge: Take away your opponets NCU's abilities and make em discard a tactics card if you hold the Crown spot, this is deceptively strong since you only need to use it when the NCU activates which means your opponent is stuck with an NCU that only takes a spot and nothing else for a turn.

• Paid Mutiny: Not unlike Intrigue and Subterfuge, an enemy unit must pass a morale test or lose its attachments abilities and suffer d3 wounds, if you have the Bag spot the moral test has a -2 debuff and you deal 3 wounds intead of rolling. This can be very powerful since some units really need their attachments to shine, turning off a Baratheon's Warden Veteran before your Knighst make a charge can be HUGE.

• A Lannister pays his debts: Ehen you lose a unit you give one panicked and one vulnerable token to any units (you can put both tokens on the same enemy) and if you have the Bag spot you get one of you cards from the discard pile back. While you dont really want to lose units this can ease the sting and prepare you to absolutely wreck an enemy unit with the card and tokens.

• Counterplot: This is THE Lannister card, it allows you to deny the enemy a card they are trying to use on a 3+ with a reroll if you have the Crown spot, this is VERY powerful since you enemy doesnt know you have this card until you deny him his (unless you're fighting other Lannisters), letting you deny your opponent his tactics cards is strong on its own and making sure he has to commit to the card before you shoot him down puts this a step above.