As part of the Talvisota (Winter War) event (organized by Nopat & Taktiikka club, 300+ players) Finnish Nationals for Song was now
organized for the 2nd time. Head TO was Antti, our Champion from 2023.
Tournament in ASOIAF Stats
In this post I will report my journey in the tournament as well as share overall feelings and atmosphere from the event, not forgetting the best painted army...
We also appeared in Tourney Ground with Jaska to discuss the event
Our TOs Johannes (Forestpond), Antti (Rivarama) and Jaska (Corpmake) briefing the 24 players.
The new Finnish Champion Trophy
My lists and reasoning behind them
Faction: Martell
Commander: Jokin - Stormcrow Captain
Points: 40 / 40
Activations: 7
Combat Units
• Stormcrow Archers ( 6 )
Jokin - Stormcrow Captain ( 0 )
• Sunspear Royal Guard ( 7 )
The Widower - Stormcrow Captain ( 0 )
• Sand Skirmishers ( 7 )
• Starfall Knights ( 8 )
Non Combat Units
• Ellaria Sand ( 4 )
• Petyr Baelish ( 4 )
• Oberyn Martell ( 4 )
Built on asoiaf-stats.com/builder
I've really come to like Jokin and his cards. Widower is pretty damn great too, I would pay 2p for this
attachment and he is free with Jokin! With Jokin (while controlling Swords) Martells have 4 autopass panic
cards in their deck, which is pretty awesome. The other two cards are great too: Diversion tactics has great
synergy with Sand Skirmishers (often the most deadly unit) and Stormcrow Archers chuckin 10+ arrows with
Brothers in Arms is truly threatening. This combined with Overwatch order is pretty strong area control.
Idea of this list is to let the enemy come to you, while peppering them with shooting. When the enemy
commits, I have a strong retaliation with my Knights (a late addition to my list, as I have previously
struggled with them). Royal Guard can quite easily receive a charge, especially over hindering terrain...
unless it's made by Asha Greyjoy and Silenced men... This list is suited well against FF, Greyjoy, Starks and Baratheons too. Against
FF I need to finish units of efficiently and the others I don't really want to engage in any longer melee with.
My Second list
This list is for the long play; Harmen brings excellent cards too, best being Battle Endurance, that will turn
units like Flayed Men into total monsters. Harmen also makes RG very robust. Martell Spearmen are here for
the 3" shift, holding objectives and fueling Cunning ploy. Both of my lists are decent against other Martells, in
this list the key is Arianne, whom really shuts down Sand skirmishers and also Royal Guard, if needs be.
R2. My 2nd Game - Martell Mirror with Johannes (Forestpond)
I had a CP in my opening hand... Pasi started, took letters anm I then took horses to move forward with Flayed Men, positioning them for a march... and march they did with the Cunning ploy. Pasi moved Halbediers to block my FM charge to Crossbows. I gave them a weaken token with Ellaria and then proceeded to charge with FM, supported with Scout openings from my Skirmishers. Halbediers used Set for Charge (Arianne was influencing Tyrion) and I played Dune Tactics giving them Vulnerable and Panicked tokens as a payment for their feeble 4 weakened attacks, muhahahahhaaa! Flayed men then proceeded to roll several sixes and after the failed panic test there were only 2 Halbediers standing. I was also denying his access to the initial CP.
R1 My first Game vs. Khal Drogo
Game Mode: Honed and Ready
Deployment
I played my Jokin list, it had the right tools (including the right choise of terrain, like the stakes and bog) to take care of low armoured Targaryens. Neither army really wanted to take arrows from the walls, so it would be about the centre objective and killing units. Jokin & archers deployed facing the stakes and Unsullied Pikemen, RG took the center position, the Skirmishers and finally SF Knights in my left flank,
Early phases
Stormcrows quickly moved into position to harash the approaching Dothraki with Overwatch. Boldly first Screamers and then Khal Drogo with his Veterans approached, eating arrows and taking heavy casualties... Screamers had to retreat to a distance to stay alive.
My opponent, Kilian, one of our young lions, made quite drastic mistakes throughout this rather short game... in the end of R1 he left Jorah out in the open and I still had my Knights to activate, they promptly moved to a position and proceeded to charge and kill Jorah. In the mean while Khal had lost one rank from his Vets to missile fire and still proceeded to charge my RG through a bog... RG easily shrugged that attack of, Skirmishers then shot at Drogo, almost finishing him... I expected to finish Drogo simply by activating RG with the Widover (Hold the line), but I actually had to attack him too and then move on to the centre objective.
Mobbing up
I had an initial plan NOT to take a crushing victory in R1 - in order not to phase the top players (we had many players with ELO of 1800-200) in R2, but Kilian and his Dothraki (and Unsullied) were too brave (or foolish) and proceeded to attack me... My RG finished Screamers and my Knights finished Dothraki Outriders. Unsullied were simply shot to pieces. Wipe out in 4 Rounds. With 32 kill points, I was leading the tournament after R1, oh dear...
R2. My 2nd Game - Martell Mirror with Johannes (Forestpond)
Game mode: Dance with Dragons
This time I chose my Harmen list vs. Johannes' Oberyn list. Knowing how deadly Sand Skirmishers are and how good a player Johannes is, I really needed Arianne to keep them in check. As always, when I face Johannes, it's very intense, so I didn't even take any pictures... I knew I had a chanse to win him, as I did in Finnish Nationals 2023...
And what a tight game it was! My Spearmen moved to grab an objective protected by a palisade and kept scoring points throughout the game (and providing fuel for Cunning ploys). Harmen with RG was holding the centre of my battle line, facing Oberyn in Dune Vipers and smartly staying away from his poisoned spear... this left my FM and Skirmishers to contest the left most objective. I got a rather early Battle Endurance on my FM and my Skirnishers snatched the objective and then retreated with a CP... I was leading the game and scoring 2 points from objectives, while Oberyn took the centre objective.
And then we grinded on...
Johannes' S. Skirmishers and Outriders pushed forward chasing my Skirmishers with the objective token, then I made a critical mistake: Arienne had blanked his Skirmishers once again and I took horses to move away with my Skirmishers with the objective, making sure to measure being beyond 8" from his Skirmishers... and then he spent a Varys token and shifted forward to shoot my Skirmishers dead.
Then his Knights finally engaged (I thin it was already R5) and my units continued to die... it was very close, that my FM would have survived and it would have been a draw pointswise (Johannes would have won with points on the table). Now it ended 9-8 for Johannes with only my humble spearmen surviving, still carrying the objective.
Here's Johannes' summary of our very good game:
On round 2, my Starfall Knights were holding the left flank against his Spearmen and Flayed Men. He was protected by a palisade and took an objective, but I was still happy with that 8 vs 13 point stalemate. That allowed me to take the center with Oberyn, and attack his Skirmishers with my own Skirms and a unit of Outriders. Oberyn was on a low wall, ready to either grab the middle objective or march over it.
I wanted Teemu to come shoot me with his skirmishers, so I could charge him with my outriders. I knew he had set for charge, but with Dune Tactics I was able to negate the whole attack and give out 2 tokens. A disorderly charge would've been catastrophic, but luckily I didn't roll a one. He was now stuck with either grabbing the objective himself, or retreating to a corner. Harmen was out of position, fairly back, and I was confident Oberyn could beat that duel if it came to it. I needed him to spread his resources over all 3 threats I had to eke out an advantage, but Arianne was doing work. Teemu moved really well, constantly pressuring me and creating charge blocks, but I was biding my time to strike.
My plan was to even out the score from the objectives in a way that he was forced to move his Flayed Men to protect the right flank. I had now already taken care of Skirmishers with a sneaky shot after a Varys token, and I was threatening Harmen's unit with a 3v1 fight. On round 5, after Harmen was already in a pickle, I finally move in with both Oberyn and the Knights who had been just biding their time, controlling the middle most of the game. I managed to trap and kill his Flayed men on the last round, granting me a very close victory. Varys was key in this game.
Round 3. Here we Stand vs. Jaska and his Greyjoys
For this game I chose Jokin. I have a very bad track record against Asha Greyjoy + Balon combo (I've only won against them once), so my goal was not to loose too badly...
I also wanted to keep my RG with The Widower away from Asha and SM... this didn't unfortunately suucceed. For a couple of rounds I hanged on in the game, Jaska was also playing quite carefully, but eventually Greyjoys pushed forward - having a 5 point NCU helped him in playing the game mode. I managed to kill off his Reapers with Baelor, but lost my Royal Guard and Knights. I think it's a typical situation with my lance cav: I commit them to kill of a GJ unit and they stay alive with What is dead... and then my Knights die...
In the end I managed my goal, losing only 10-7, which felt like defensive victory, this being a a very difficult match up for me and Jaska being one of Finland's Top three player, actually ATM number one and 18th in the global ranking with ELO of 1968.
DAY 2.
R4 Clash of Kings vs. Pave's all cavalry Starks
After a nice dinner and drinks with other players, including our Swedish friends, I took metro in the morning to get back to the venue... I was feeling quite ok, but my opponent and good friend Pave was nowhere to be seen. After some messages he was on his way to the venue, luckily he is very fast with his bike!
Once again I chose to play Jokin, as his army included 3 units of Umber Ravagers with an armour save of 5+ and I thought my shooting would work nicely againts them. My fast lance cav would also be needed and once again, I felt confident, that my RG could take a charge, except from lance cav, so I needed to play smart...
Me and Pave wearing back in the 2nd table
Piece meal
Jokin supported by my Knights took positions on my right flank, Jokin once again being protected by palisades, Royal Guard took the centre and Skirmishers the left flank.
Starks took care to avoid shooting from Jokin (as they should) and steered heavily towards my left. Pave made a mistake to push most aggressively forward with his commander; Dune Tactics thwarted his charge and then my Skirmishers and RG were able to kill Brynden in early R2. This gave me an advantage in activations (now 7-5) and in the opportunity to score extra VPs with my Commander.
But Starks and specially Umbers are not ones to give up and soon the second wave hit my lines... one of the most epic moments happened then: his second Ravager unit, that moved through some Stakes to avoid Jokin was slaughtering my Skirmishers, whom had like two models standfing, Ravagers had maybe 5 wounds left and they were showing their rear to Jokin, whom proceeded to shoot them with rerolls and 10 shots (thanks to Brothers in Arms)... and I didn't manage to kill them! I think I did with my next shot, scoring an extra VP, but in the meanwhile they had finished my Skirmishers. We then proceeded to another similar moment: my Knights got a rear charge to Tully Cavaliers; I rolled a 1 for my charge, but still managed to hit 9 times and Cavaliers were saving on sixes and having a panic token... after a decent amount of sixes the rear rank was gone... after 2 Eddard tokens to pass the panic and to heal Cavaliers only took 2 wounds. Tseesh!
The Slaughter continued until we both only our Knights on the battlefield and the time was up. I managed a victory of 6-5 VPs and 21-20 kill points. What a game!
Round 5. Final Game: Feast For Crows vs. Pasi & Lannisters
So two Monsters from the North (our Team name in Polish Nationals) faced off. Last time we met, practising for the Nationals I had faced the same Tyrion lead list and had lost (I had a softer list), so it was a payback time...
A Brutal Cunning Ploy
Pasi deployed everything to his right flank. His two units of Crossbows were protected by Stakes next to the CP and Knights of course, holding the end of his line. I deployed spearmen facing the corpse pile in my right flank, RG in the middlem then FM and finally Skirmishers in my left flank
This gamble paid off as even if I had taken two shots from crossbows my FM managed to finish off the halbediers (or maybe it was a Varys token) and then to escape to my rear to lick their wounds and to prepare for their next charge (and to wait for the arrival of Battle Endurance). Natirally we didn't remember to place the new CP from an infantry unit dying right away. This happened twice in the game, this first being bad for Pasi and the second for me.
Tywin bomb - a dud?
In order to turn the tide, Pasi activated Rains of Castamere and blanked my RG, other effects were thrown around. I think he then made a hard call NOT to immediately charge his Knights to my RG, there must have been an other more urgent need. This game me the opportunity to charge my RG to the knights, not doing much damage and taking some morale damage from Suppremacy, BUT not as much as they would have taken from a lance charge, being Vulnerable. Surviving a Tywin bomb without immeadiately losing a unit is definately a win in my books!
My RG eventually died to the combination of crossbow bolts and strikes from Knights (and this is when we forgot to place the final CP until a bit later), but the Knights were now hanging out in the open and they were easy prey for my Battle Enduranced FM. These monsters then proceeded to decimate one of the crossbow unit too and with that the game ended in my crushing victory 12-1 VPs and 20-7 in Kill points
In the meanwhile Seppo and Jaska we're playing in "the finale" aka table 1. A rare thing happened: it was a total draw! Jaska lost a unit, but Balon brought it back, evening out points on the table
Guys were still smiling though!
Conclusions
My goal was to be in the top 10 and I made it, placing 8th - that's in top 1/3. I really enjoyed the whole event. Atmosphere in our tournament was very jovial and friendly. I didn't have or see a single argument! So thanks to all my opponents and everyone joining in Finnish Nationals. Only "negative" for me was the fact, that all my games were played with mates from Nopat Club, it would have been fun to to face off with friends from Sweden or other parts of Finland, which is a rare opportunity.
Too bad CMON let us down this time and no prize support arrived... or maybe it will after all?
It was also very nice to hang out and have a dinner on Sat evening and to chat with Jaska and Mickey on Tourney Ground about our event. ALSO a discussion on organizing Nordic initiated in the bar on Sat night... as I write this a task force from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway is already working on it!
Ceremonies
And so was Seppo crowned: King Sepp of House Baratheon, the First of His Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm!
Top 5.
From left to right: 4th and best Swede Jonatan (Wappe), 1st Seppo, 3rd Antti (winner 2023),
Johannes 2nd and Jaska 5th.
Most thematic / best painted army: Esa's (Kwltwolf) awesome Boltons
Tournament in action
Jaska & Jonatan
Antti & Martin
Lauri & Martin
Oskari & Keke
Risto, Tuomas & Oscar
Esa & Pasi
Johannes & Lauri
Johannes & Seppo
Tuomas& Martin
Henri & Ilmo
Night out
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