Editing ASOIAF Miniatures/Tactics/Baratheon (section)

==Loyalty: Stannis Baratheon==
[[Image:Stannismini.jpg|right|thumb|350px|The rightful king.]]
The rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms leans heavily on the play style of sacrificing models to punish the enemy team, primarily via panic/morale. To that end, Stannis enjoys the patronage of R’hllor, the Lord of Light. You can expect to lose many of your trays by the end of the battle, but that’s what Stannis Commanders are designed to do, as their units and NCU’s abilities rely on sacrifice to pull off their strongest effects.

===Commander===

*'''Stannis Baratheon - The Rightful Heir:''' The version of Stannis included in the Baratheon Starter Box, the Rightful Heir is an all-rounder Commander with the ability to distribute Vulnerable tokens and also swap token types. He's got some great damage with Tactical Approach, allowing even Wardens to be very dangerous (and making him great in them as a cheap, defensive unit that scores +1 for having the Commander). Harsh Conditions is one of the few cards that can strip abilities, stopping abilities like Night's Watch crossbow shenanigans or Set For Charge hits. Finally, Will of the One True King turns a zone you often want to have but not use into one that synergises well with Stannis himself. Don't risk losing him by putting him in a weak unit, as his Orders are very strong and Commander scoring is very important.

*'''Stannis Baratheon - The One True King:''' The version of Stannis included in the Baratheon Heroes I box, this version has converted to the faith of the Lord of Light. Providing the “R’hllor” keyword to the unit he’s embedded in. Trading his condition token shenanigans for boosted morale for his unit, the One True King version of Stannis synergizes directly with his own cards, going all in on the R'hllor side of the army of sacrifice and panic test your own units for additional Oomph, he is decidedly more offensive than Rightful Heir and benefits a more balls to the wall purge the heretics approach to list building.

*'''Andrew Estermont - First of the King's Men:''' Andrew is a Commander with an offensive leaning, giving guaranteed charges, free attacks, and an ability similar to his attachment. The guaranteed 6 on charges is extra useful on the slower Baratheon units and can cause some hard to predict Sentinel charges. Unfortunately Reckless Fury is another "when making a Melee attack" trigger and, unlike Ours is the Fury, comes with a downside of taking a Panic Test making it outmatched in the Basic deck (OitF is also a card you can scry with King's Men). You always count as holding the Crown and Letters for tactics cards that target him, allowing Baratheon to relax on taking those zones and focus on other areas (for Bag-focused armies potentially, or low NCU armies).

*'''Davos Seaworth - Hero of Blackwater:''' Davos is an exciting and explosive commander for Stannis players as he can mitigate the army’s biggest weakness: its speed. Davos' unit can Outflank, allowing your Commander Warden unit to turn up practically on top of those mid-board objectives Turn 1. His cards feature Stannis' only real healing, as well a very strong card; Parley, allowing you to give up your activation to force an enemy to do the same (something going to kill your Wardens? Turn off their ability to attack. 8+ point unit of the enemy about to charge? Sentinel your Dragonstone Noble close and trade it's turn for your 4 point Solo tray). Flea Bottom Tricks, while nice for movement (acting as a pseudo Sentinel on any close units) doesn't work great with Davos if he's outflanking so the really strong Pivot+March is somewhat wasted.

*'''Axell Florent - First of the Queen's Men:''' Axell Florent has amazing attachment abilities, with Intimidating Presence stacking with Vicious if you can get it and Stalwart making anything Baratheon indestructible to Morale (4+ King's Men that never fail To The Last are a good combo). Use your ranged units to shoot into Axell's enemy, trigger the panic on Axell's unit, then throw back wounds with his Fiery Resolve (and an extra one if using the S&S NCU). Fiery Resolve also works with Melisandre, if you want to cause 3 wounds on top of the -2 +2 Panic test (which is -3 +3 due to Intimidating Presence) so you can see how wonderfully he combines with the rest of Stannis' options. He also has a guaranteed charge card, allowing the previously mentioned movement fun. R'hllor's Wrath, while a zone replace (which Stannis' card is good for) relies also on your units being both in Short Range and R'hllor to have full effect making it relatively bad if drawn in Turns 2 and 3. Turn 1 it can be used to convert Bags or Swords if they're not needed for a try-your-luck panic shot. Overall has the most synergy and doesn't even require a R'hllor army (but he gives it his unit anyway).

====Units====

*'''R'hllor Faithful (6 pts):''' What a diversive unit. The first that was available only to Stannis players and, at first glance, seem a bit expensive at 6 pts. Much like their point-brothers the Sentinels, getting the most out of them requires a lot more thought than most units. Far better than on release now R'hllor is an easily accessible keyword, they act as sacrificial bombs in melee. Get down to one rank and an enemy is taking 6 hits before attacking, which for some units can really hurt. They're probably the only remaining Baratheon unit that you might willingly want to lose wounds on, so consider Devan for rerolls and 11" guaranteed charge, Red Priestess for tokens, and Meli if you're using her. Just remember you need to have your R'hllor units already charged/in range before they die or you'll lose their biggest order. Pairs hilariously, albeit expensively, with the Stag Noble and S&S influence if you use Stannis OTK to trigger multiple panics on them and throw 2 wounds out for each pass. If you're facing Free Folk of Greyjoy these guys might be functionally invincible at 1 rank. Against NW, Lannister, or mirror matches they could just disappear.


*'''R'hllor Lightbringers (7 pts):''' Good god, these guys, designed to fully exploit the strengths of R’hllor based army lists their bows fire at long range with a strong 7/6/4 profile and “Vicious” for good measure. Panic tests failed against their attack cause another enemy within short range to also take a panic test at -2 (so Vicious). They also have 4+ armour which is unheard for ranged units (3+ if you get that One True King card off for some reason) allowing them to safely trade with non-Sundering units, making them a great Stormcrow counter if the Bags aren't yet claimed. Add Davos to them, please. You now have a back-line unit that heals your anvils and hammers, and as soon as they drop a rank they lose 1 dice to gain re-rolls which is a very valuable trade.

*'''Dragonstone Noble (4 pts): ''' Included in Baratheon Attachments 1 box, the Dragonstone Noble is a stand-alone cavalry model adding some activation assistance and flank harassment with a 2+ armour and 3+ morale. A very controversial piece, he's used by some as a Solo counter, by others to tie up ranged units, to flank charge, to objective sit, etc. Yet people still disagree if he's worth it due to his low wounds dying surprisingly fast and unwounded profile not hitting that hard (and his speed doesn't get him into rears much). He has Sentinel, allowing similar options as discussed in the Sentinels (end of round movement towards archers, positioning into flank to lock units from retreating (if sandwiched) or from pivoting (if you're about to retreat)). If you want to play risky, take 2 wounds with Melisandre and hope he passes the panic to give him his full attack profile on demand. Consider using him in a Davos list, where he can move into Short easily to trigger Parlay, trading your 4 point activation for a 7+ one of your opponent (remember that as of 1.7 you don't get the cavalry move prior to Parley though). Also has the new Solo Rider free action, meaning you can retreat for free! If you're in combat move from Front to Flank, or Flank to Rear, each turn to hit harder.

*'''King's Men (7 pts):''' Stannis' personal agents within his army, they have an average profile when it comes to movement, morale and armour, but their offense is solid with +3 to hit and sundering standard and they feature some unique orders. One allows you to fish OitF out your deck or discard, your strongest card, so long as they're attacked (not always easy). The other allows them to survive death if they pass a panic, not great alone with the various minuses around, but with someone like Axell can be very strong. Unfortunately they're quite squishy, have a bad last rank attack (so surviving with one wound isn't super amazing), and are quite expensive. If not using Axell or another source of Stalwart, try Andrew Estemont for Sundering Vicious with full rank attack (so if you do survive, you're guaranteed rerolls as well).

*'''R'hllor's Queen's Men (7 pts):''' The defensive stats of Wardens for 2 points more. They can pull out one of two cards from your deck or discard if a R'hollr unit is attacked, unfortunately those aren't your best cards (but you can pull them out then immediately use them). At 6 points they could be a decent trade for Wardens, but for 7 it's a big ask unless you're all in on R'hllor with your army, and if you are you're better giving that keyword with Stannis/Axell/S&S/Meli than buying it raw on these guys.

====Non-Combat Units====

*'''Axell Florent - Hand of the Queen (4 pts):''' A control  guy, his influence ability slaps an enemy unit with +1 wounds on panic tests and "Can't be targeted by friendly Tactics Cards" depending on whether you hold the Crown and/or Letters respectively. He's decent in a control orientated list, but his zone requirements ask a lot unless you've got replace cards, which rely on different NCUs claiming (meaning he might miss the point in the game when you want him active).

*'''Davos Seaworth - Hand of the True King (4 pts):'''  The NCU version of Davos is quite versatile, 3 times per game he can give rerolls to charges (After rolling the dice, sweet) or giving an enemy "Cant use Orders or be targeted by friendly Tactics cards", so he allows you to more reliably get stuck in on your own terms and/or nerf a unit so you can fuck them up without tactics cards intervening. A solid choice to give two different strong abilities.

*'''Selyse & Shireen - Queen and Princess (5 pts):''' Stannis’ wife and child bring some more resilience to the table, by having their influence ability give +1 to morale and dealing a wound to enemies when the unit passes a morale test (not just panic tests, which means this can proc a bunch of times). Put it on Axell's unit and shoot into it to cause wounds everywhere as Axell passes everything. Also has the ability to destroy this NCU to prevent a combat unit from getting wiped, leaving it with d3 wounds a making it R'hllor. The latter can win games, but is very hard to know when to play. Sometimes using it on your 4 point Dragonstone Noble will be worth it if it keeps a unit locked up and stopped from scoring. In general keep her alive until turn 4 so you don't lose that guaranteed activation.

*'''Melisandre - The Red Woman (6 pts):''' Weep, you filthy scoundrels, for the wrath of the Red Woman is terrible to behold. Melisandre is a terror, both for you and your enemy. Gives a unit both the R'hollor Keyword and Vicious for their melee attacks, the interesting part is you may have the unit take 2 wounds and a panic test, you then get to pick an enemy and have them take a panic test on -2 morale and +2 wounds. Have a Dragonstone Noble take the wounds and panic test (with +3 morale hes set to pass) on the turn you want him to charge something and have him THRASH the poor sod who has to face 4-7 hits with both sundering and vicious, noble's wrath indeed.

====Unit Attachments====

*'''Andrew Estermont - True Loyalist (1 pts):''' With "Incite" order and True Conviction he will keep a unit fighting at top efficiency to their final moments. As the First of the King's men he obviously pair very well with them, but re-rolls, Vicious, and full rank attacks make anything good. Can mitigate Sentinel's 4+ to hit.

*'''Davos Seaworth - Onion Knight (1 pts):''' Like his Commander version, this Davos offers something that the army struggles with: healing potential. With the addition of granting low-rank re-rolls, he makes ranged units a beat (see Lightbringer entry) but can also just sit in a back-line Wardens unit throwing out wounds. Don't forget he can suffer 0 wounds to heal 1, giving him up to 6 free wounds on top of whatever you sacrifice.

*'''Devan Seaworth - King’s Squire (1 pts):''' Davos’ senior surviving son is designed to help a unit alleviate some of the army’s movement problems with his order of “Reckless Heroism”. After declaring a charge, that unit can take d3 wounds to automatically assume a roll of a 6. In an army that is already self-sacrifice heavy, this can be costly but if you’re finding yourself up against an opponent who excels at cat and mouse tactics, Devan can come in handy. Not advised in an Axell/Andrew list as they already have guaranteed charges, nor if you're using Davos NCU as his order is probably better.

*'''Red Priestess (1 pt):''' Oh, you. Coming in the R’hllor Faithful unit box, the Red Priestess is was an auto-include on your high morale units though now costs more to activate. When attacking, her unit may take a wound and a *panic* test, the enemy becomes vulnerable and panicked. Unlike War Cry (which doesn't cause wounds either directly or through panic), it triggers even if you fail, but losing 4 models can be game-changing. Consider her with Axell commander to throw 3 wounds at an enemy if you're in a R'hllor unit, or on Bastard Girls as they can trigger her twice (ranged and melee), not that the Girls really need her now their ranged attack causes Vulnerable.

*'''Dragonstone Noble(1 pt):''' Sentinel. Give Hedge Knights counter charge? Definitely. Give Zhorse riders even more speed to hit flanks? Sure. Give Champions more speed? Probably not, but for 1 point it's a thought. Allows Neutral cavalry to really shine, even before you consider getting the counter charge off (which mobile cav have a better chance of).