They don't teach generalship in Westeros...
Battle of the Bastards
After the previous fun Long Night refight I decided to pick out the other big land set piece battles and see how they run using HOTT. Naturally there are many variations. (Shout-out to Paul Mann's lists for Groan of Thrones on Boardgame Geek for suggested army lists.) These are my own interpretation.
The battlefield
Rewatching S6 E9 and S5 E10 I was delighted to see a big overhead shot, and a view from the aggressors' lines. That helps! Both episodes recycle the same steep clay bank near the woods, northwest of the stronghold. Just back of that there are plentiful woods to cut and to retire from horse into. Between that and the stronghold there's dead ground, but not enough slope to slow horse or provide any advantage. The stronghold itself is low-lying, and because book 1 tells me it lies on a thermal layer, that's understandable. The distance between the stronghold and bad ground (the step and woods) is so short that foot advancing from either can get into action pretty easily.
Rewatching S6 E9 and S5 E10 I was delighted to see a big overhead shot, and a view from the aggressors' lines. That helps! Both episodes recycle the same steep clay bank near the woods, northwest of the stronghold. Just back of that there are plentiful woods to cut and to retire from horse into. Between that and the stronghold there's dead ground, but not enough slope to slow horse or provide any advantage. The stronghold itself is low-lying, and because book 1 tells me it lies on a thermal layer, that's understandable. The distance between the stronghold and bad ground (the step and woods) is so short that foot advancing from either can get into action pretty easily.
Army lists
Bolton, defending
Beast general, cost 2. I decided Ramsay's hounds are where his heart is.
3xKnights, cost 6. I hesitated about this, but despite the general lack of spears there are definitely plenty of heavy charging horse Ramsay keeps in reserve.
4xRiders, cost 8. Ramsay has plenty of these, and doesn't mind wasting them.
1xShooters, cost 2. A thin line of archers with schmaverage bows.
1xWarband, cost 2. The basic fantasy get-stuck-in foot, definitely not well-disciplined but much better than Horde quality. You could argue Bolton does not have any, but I would argue he has to, given his turncoat-Stark numbers.
2xSpear, cost 4. The overhead of the melee shows there are relatively small numbers of spearmen/shieldmen but they have to be able to split into two files, so two it is.
Stark, attacking
Hero general, cost 4. Jon, Ghost, and his closest comrades clad in thick plot armor.
Behemoth, cost 4. Wun Wun has a decisive effect on the TV battle so definitely rates his own points.
2xWarband, cost 4. Wildlings, Night Watch, loyalist northerners.
1xRider, cost 2. Jon's biggest fangirl Lyanna Mormont and her core of armored knights, supported by other mounted loyalist northerners.
1xShooter, cost 2. Again you could definitely debate this, but there seemed to be plenty of archers, who were never used.
Hero general, cost 4. Jon, Ghost, and his closest comrades clad in thick plot armor.
Behemoth, cost 4. Wun Wun has a decisive effect on the TV battle so definitely rates his own points.
2xWarband, cost 4. Wildlings, Night Watch, loyalist northerners.
1xRider, cost 2. Jon's biggest fangirl Lyanna Mormont and her core of armored knights, supported by other mounted loyalist northerners.
1xShooter, cost 2. Again you could definitely debate this, but there seemed to be plenty of archers, who were never used.
Special reserve: in this version (1) Sansa does let Jon know the Arryn allies are nearby, and (2) when Jon points out there is time to cut defensive works, they get right onto that.
Allies are summoned on the east board edge with a 6.
Bad going is created in front of 3 BW of defenders, represented by chevaux-de-frise. (3 foot elements permits 3 BW)
Allies are summoned on the east board edge with a 6.
Bad going is created in front of 3 BW of defenders, represented by chevaux-de-frise. (3 foot elements permits 3 BW)
An account of the battle
The chevaux-de-frise in front of elements simply creates bad going for the element on the wrong side of them. In conjunction with the "step" of steep clay bank, it creates a problem for Ramsay. His pincer move is forced into very wide separation. He holds the center with spears, and stays back there himself to keep command distance of both wings. Shooters on the left will eventually get rid of warband, then riders can roll any shieldwall up - just like Hastings!
Then Jon rolls a 6 and 3 mounted elements appear on the east edge!
Ramsay calls up his knight reserve, but they can't quite cover that flank in both time and numbers - converting a line to a flank-moving column is expensive. And Jon starts really using Wun Wun, along with riders and warband in support. Bang bang, two Bolton riders gone!
A fencing match develops along the woods edge. With two riders for support and his own beasts and a warband, Ramsay attempts to swing the battle. Heroically, the Wildlings hold out, seeing off the turncoat Starks long enough for Jon to get there. Standoff.
Then Ramsay hits the dreaded PIP-slump! He can't even get his final reserve knights to move, as lines are driven in and Wun Wun with a support rider take the stronghold.
Total defeat for Bolton, 0:12 plus stronghold lost.
Summing up: It felt about right. The element I feel least comfortable with is Jon's shooters. But that's because in the TV version, Jon "know nothing" Snow aragorned off ahead of his entire army, forcing them to give up the not-very-prepared ground. Maybe in this version, the northern archers are just as good as the Boltons?
I was as fair as I could be - as you can probably sense I am no Jon Snow fan - and tried to use the Bolton forces as best they could be used. To no avail. Possibly using a card based system for Jon Snow to decide how he arses-up his deployment might be better? But the premise of these fun games is that the generals know what they are doing, unlike all but a couple of Westeros generals.
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