The Melee - A Free-for-All Battle Report

 The Rules of the Melee

For this game, we decided to try out a 3-player free-for-all, utilizing the rules laid out for a 5' Round battlefield in our post here.

The Game Mode was Feast for Crows and our competitors were:

Lannister

• Guardsmen with Tyrion (C)
• Mountain that Rides
• Poor Fellows with Champion of the Faith
• Cutthroats
• Crossbows
• Red Cloaks
• Pycelle & Joffrey NCU's

Greyjoy

• Silenced Men with Euron (C)
• Bowmen
• Bowmen
• Ironmakers with Asha
• Flayed Men
• Petyr & Beron NCU's

Nights Watch

• Sworn Brothers with Jeor (C)
• Crossbows
• Ranger Hunters with Hardened Ranger
• Veterans with Alliser & Brave Satin
• Aemon & Othell NCU's

The Game

The first Round sees Greyjoy spread out to assert field control, with Bowmen holding down each flank.  Lannister shifts right, deciding to set their sights on Nights Watch with the hope of holding off the Greyjoy Flayed Men as long as possible, while Nights Watch hopes to hold of Lannister with his Vets while the Hunters & Sworn Brothers deal with Greyjoy.

Unfortunately, the Veteran's are quickly whittled down by Crossbows & then taken out by a Cutthroats charge (drawing first blood), allowing them to Surge Forth & now threaten the NW Crossbow's flank.

But, as we all know (& in spite of recent changes), NW crossbows are still a force unto itself.  Othell lets loose a withering barrage on the advancing Cutthroats.  The NW Crossbows then pivot (with the unwelcome help of Greyjoy triggering Watcher on the Wall) & fire on the advancing Cutthroats.  At this point, the Cutthroats, once ready to charge in & cause havoc, face serious doubts if their diminished ranks can even survive a Ready, Aim! Release! & so resign themselves to continue to maneuver around their foes.

Cutthroats biding their time pays off eventually, as they recruit some fresh ranks with Fealty to the Crown & the Wealth Tactics Zone & manage to charge into the Crossbow's flank, finishing them off.  The Mountain & Poor Fellows both fall to the Sworn Brothers, who then sweep down on the Crossbows, but they alone manage to retreat & survive, though battered.

On the opposite flank, Asha & her Ironmakers fall early to a series of unfortunate Defense Dice (on 3+) & Panic Failures, thanks to the Red Cloaks.  The Flayed Men & bowmen then assault the Red Cloaks to avenge their fallen lady.  They eventually succeed, but the Red Cloaks manage to hold on far longer than the Greyjoy commander hoped or expected!  The Guardsmen & Tyrion standby, guarding the flank & attempting to influence the nearby battle with his plots & schemes & Counterstrategies. (Perhaps he should have brought his fierce Hill Tribes instead to have more of a sway on the battlefield, though!)

The Greyjoy forces definitely brought the aggression, battering the Lannister left flank while simultaneously pushing back the Ranger Hunters on their right.  After trading a few blows, the Silenced Men and left Bowmen fought off & then destroyed a retreating unit of Ranger Hunters.  Euron & his Silenced Men then declared himself King of his Corpse Pile with no one brave enough to enter his bubble & contest him.

Aggression alone does not win wars though.  Lannister took an early lead on Objectives & killing the Veterans & Ironmakers.  It turns out though, it's dangerous to be on top early in a Free-for-All.  The Greyjoy & Nights Watch forces came to a (tenuous,) unspoken agreement to tackle the Lannisters & attempt to wrench victory from their grasp.

In the end, though bested on the battlefield, the Lannisters managed to hold on & claim victory 10 (Lanni) to 8 (GJ) to 4 (NW).  Greyjoy nearly stole the day, if Tyrion & his Guardsmen failed to hold their objective against a charge by the infamous Flayed Men on the final turn of the final Round.  However, careful positioning over a Low Wall, granted the Halfman a key 2+ armor save that saved all Wounds & prevented a likely game-losing panic check by the Guardsmen.

Afterthoughts

Perhaps a Free-for-All is not the best theatre to judge, but the 6-2 Lannister list proved surprisingly effective! (Maybe even enough to tempt me to try it & fall out of love again in a normal 1v1.) I was never left wanting for control of the field & was able to get an advantage on both opponents on the field fairly early on.

We opened our Terrain selections to Rivers & Ponds, as described in our first Terrain Talk (episode 2, coming soon!)  This time, we applied Rough & a new Keyword, "Exposed," to the Ponds:

Exposed: Units in this terrain gain -1 to their Defense Dice Rolls against Charge & Ranged Attacks

(EDIT: We've since updated "Exposed" to read as follows:)

Exposed: If the Defender is in contact with this Terrain piece during a Charge, the defender suffers -1 to their Defense Dice Rolls vs. that attack.

This terrain, with its extremely negative features, provided an interesting twist on the battle - even if it was mostly units avoiding contact with it at (nearly) all costs!

There has to be a better way to remember to place Corpse Piles when units die!  We remembered when the Vets died, but forgot twice thereafter when the Ironmakers & then the Crossbows perished.  We remembered eventually & then allowed Greyjoy & Nights Watch to place Corpse Piles 5 & 6, but 1 or 2 Rounds late.  This might have been enough to turn the tides in Greyjoy's favor with bowmen scoring an extra point (maybe two?).  But let's not dwell too long on that - I won! Lannisters rule! End of story!