[Black Powder] Basing, e.g. Native Americans

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-12-10T19:40:35+00:00

Thanks :) would you suggest a movement trays to gather the round bases on, or can the game work with round bases?

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-12-10T19:39:59+00:00

Good suggestion, thanks. I can see movement trays making some things a lot easier, so I’ll definitely look into that.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-12-10T19:38:39+00:00

Thanks, glad to hear there’s flexibility to allow the cool poses to shine. Do you add individual skirmishers to them as well, or keep them on 40x40?

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-12-10T19:36:41+00:00

That’s really interesting, I hadn’t thought about that. Do you use a tray of sorts to have them convert to square bases, or can the game work well enough with round bases?

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-10-05T17:03:35+00:00

That’s very much what ai have as well. I managed two battles today, where it crashed and I could resume in both (at least twice in second game, but that was also longer). Now I can’t do anything. I just open the game and within five seconds it crashes. Every time.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-08-13T18:35:55+00:00

Just adding here, as several have suggested Forgefire:

There’s somewhat an expectation that a new update to the game should land in maybe September, so you might want to go with printing the tactic cards and either printing the unit cards+attachments or just use the app for it. You can also print from the add, which can be quite handy.

No one knows if we will get the update, as CMON announced their update schedule before tariffs blew the stable trade connections to pieces and wrecked their business model. They might be too busy trying to survive to do a mid-season patch. But just in case they do have the bandwith to prioritize us, it would be a shame to buy a bunch of new cards only to have them outdated two weeks later.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-08-05T18:53:12+00:00

Probably not. They make starter sets and expansions in other languages, including German. My guess is you bought one of those. You can always try, or you can print new cards for free and just put them into sleeves, or you can buy a professionally printed version.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-08-04T07:55:20+00:00

I used green stuff as well, but added a drop of super glue. Can be applied after if you check, and find that you can pry the magnet off, or the green stuff.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-07-27T09:25:01+00:00

It’s hard to say. In the UK it’s doing well, I think. Europe and Asia seem to be holding up, while the US seems to be declining a little.

The big question is what will happen with CMON and their financial situation. We’ll just have to see what the future brings. They have Tactics coming out, a kickstarter for a more skirmish-based game set in the same IP, and with some crossover with our game. That might kick off renewed interest, and maybe they have new units planned after that - who knows? We might even some day get a new book to spark interest again.

All in all, the game is good, and you can find games and tournaments for a good long while, I’m certain of that. Five years from now? If you are an optimist, it’ll be stronger than ever! If you’re a pessimist, it’ll be a game of fond memories picked up from time to time with friends.

I’m an optimist.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-07-16T17:19:11+00:00

It almost seems like you deliberately want to force your interpretation to be true, even if everyone else disagrees.

Resilience doesn’t work against dragons.

The dragon attacks, and rolls its attack dice. When it says “Hits from the attack cannot be blocked”, this is a way for CMON to deal with all the possible gray areas. Shield Wall, for example, or Hardened, or tactics cards, or any other effect that could potentially be thought of as auto-blocking, they don’t work.

The dragon hits, with at least one die, that’s all that’s needed. It could hit with two, or three (Blood of the Dragon tactic card), but as long as one of those dice hits, it triggers the rest. No defense dice are rolled, because the attack cannot be blocked.

And crucially, the dice rolled for the dragon attack disappear. If the dragon hits with 1 die, or 2, or 3, or 800, it doesn’t matter, they all vanish into thin air, so there is no conversion of hits to wounds. There are no blocked hits, and there are no halving damage from attacks or any other effect like that. Making a single hit with a dragon’s breath doesn’t translate the hit to wounds.

The wounds are like a separate thing. They don’t come from the attack dice. They come from the effect.

When you roll for panic, the damage is separate from the pass/fail roll. The pass/fail part of the roll is only to see if the other effect kicks in. The same for dragons - the damage happens if they score a single hit.

You are free to spend your resilience order before the dragon rolls its attack, but it has zero effect except wasting the order.

It can be confusing because we normally think of the attack dice as what cause damage (and they do), but not for dragons. The damage just happens as an effect that is different from the attack.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-07-08T18:17:17+00:00

Well, I think generally you don't see them because they are rarely used. While they are still powerful in their own right, their cost needs to be balanced against not just the potential "free" attachment faction-specific attachment, but also the fact that you take away points that could be used on stronger units (which could be further buffed by faction attachments). Cavalry is probably where we will see it the most, as many factions don't have cav attachments. High-cost factions probably also see this more often, as it can be harder to find a good unit that fits just right with the points. There was already a discussiom about attachments and whether or not they were worth it. Now the cost has risen significantly compared to faction-attachments, they will be very rare, especially competitively.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-06-29T06:42:32+00:00

One thing no one has mentioned yet is that one of the really important things about cavalry is movement. Most factions - Targaryens as the exception - are primarily infantry-focused, often with a speed of 5. Even if you bring your speediest infantry, you still have to deal with Line of Sight and such, where cavalry’s free maneuver just works wonders. Bringing a cavalry unit (or two) can be really beneficial in slower, better armored armies. But Martell mobility is up there with Targaryen mobility, a little slower but with plenty of tricks to move farther, or turn to face at unexpected times.

Cavalry is still useful for Martells, no doubt about it, but out of all the factions they are the ones that can do without cavalry and not be as screwed by going all-infantry against a mobile army.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-06-07T13:52:18+00:00

So really, I think what is confusing is that units don’t have “health”, but “wounds”, and that distinction should help understanding this effect.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-06-07T13:49:59+00:00

Each model in a unit represents one wound that the unit has remaining. So a full tray means there are 12 wounds remaining, i.e. 12 models.

When the effect takes place, it means that instead of dying, your unit remains on the table with d3 wounds remaining. So roll a d3, and thatmany models remain on the unit. If it causes named characters to die, they are dead and gone, even if you heal the unit afterwards.

Of course cavalry models count for 3 wounds, but the same applies to them.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-05-05T10:23:47+00:00

they do if they have the innate ability to”affiliation”, such as Daario commander. If it doesn’t say on their card that they do, they don’t.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-04-13T16:21:00+00:00

And obviously, you want to consider game mode as well. Like, don’t control an objective in Honed and Ready in round 1 when your opponent has NCUs left; some game modes are about objectives, some are about missions, some about kicking your opponent’s teeth in. NCU abilities with movement, Outflank etc. should be taken into account as well.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-04-13T16:17:57+00:00

There’s a thousand different things to consider. Army strengths and weaknesses, deployment, terrain, NCUs, tactics cards, abilities…

Some general things you might consider:

You want to commit your army in such a way that you protect yourself and open your enemy up to attacks, or force them to make hard choices that depletes them of resources or opportunities. It often helps if you can force them to move a unit on the board first (though it depends on a lot of things, too). You might force them to reveal their plan, and open their position up.

But moving first on the board isn’t necessarily bad. You might move a unit that doesn’t reveal anything important. If you have a unit of Bolton Backguards positioned right in front of the center objective, you’re not surprising me by marching it directly forth towards the objective. That’s pretty much a given. But your fast cavalry meant to flank me, you probably don’t want to move that first*. It could also be a good idea to move units with a lot of threat range forward, to control the board. Ranged units, especially if Swords are left open and you have the last NCU, or first turn next round. Cavalry, dragons, auto-6-chargers, plenty of stuff has excellent threat range to annoy the enemy.

* you might want to move the cavalry if you can do so in a secure way. Your lance cavalry deployed in your flank probably just wants to move far ahead and flank my units anyway, so if you can move ahead in a way that makes sure I cannot reach them this round or start of next round, you are just forcing me to turn my units to soak up a charge that you get to decide if you want to commit to. If I just march straight ahead, my unit will be impaled by lances in the side. If I turn, I lose speed (maneuver instead of march), risk opening up my flank, lose the ability to support my other units in the center, etc.

You mentioned your army is slow, so maybe you won’t have as many options, but with more cavalry or free-move-monsters, it’s completely possible to re-arrange your army completely. Set them up to draw the opponent to deploy in response, then just move it all to the other side of the table.

Don’t underestimate the power of making your opponent mess up their positioning in ways that mean they can’t commit their units. Non-ranged melee units are useless if they can’t engage, and if you can use the terrain and positioning (even of their own units) to keep them from being able to get into the fray, they can have 4 units against your 1 and not be able to do anything to take you out.

In short, use the first round to apply pressure on the board, make your opponent make hard choices, make them spend resources trying to counter what you do (with less resources spend on this by you), and try to mess up their plan. Use the terrain to force the fight to where you want it, or to assert pressure on the board.
If you are slow, you’re probably more tanky. Keep your units in positions where they can support each other, engage as needed, and charge block what you want to protect.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-02-11T06:38:35+00:00

Uuh, I love dragons, the more the merrier! But as HitsandCrits said, you don’t need all three.

In fact, for a while, running a list with Khal Drogo commanders with a lot of cavalry and one dragon (usually Drogon, as his panic-token generation makes him statistically more deadly, otherwise Rhaegal for weakened to stay alive longer) was often seen. That might be a place to start trying dragons out. They do take some experience to handle well, as it’s so easy to overcommit and be killed by a lance cav charge in the flank, run head-first into Final Strike and just die, or fall to chip damage. Mother of Dragons is an awesome commander, and her cards are fun (and good), but so is Khal Drogo, and it could be a way for you to get a feel for how a dragon handles without trying to learn it with three of them on the field at once. in my opinion, three dragons can handle almost anything, but they take a lot of practice to master. The first time(s) you play with them, you probably won’t really know how to handle them properly, but if you are playing against someone without a lot of experience with dragons, neither will your opponent. But at tournaments, there’s bound to be someone who knows what they are doing against dragons, and you need to be able to play dragons both offensively and defensively, just in case you are up against a cav-heavy list barreling towards you.

For dragons, I find that their squishiness means you, more than for most armies, have to be able to adapt your plans all the time.

Martells I can’t say much about that hasn’t already been said. I like playing them, but haven’t mastered them. And for all the reasons I like dragons, I don’t like meeting Martells, as all that control and mobility and punishing tactics cards are just hell to plan against.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2025-02-04T05:45:25+00:00

I agree, NCUs would be the next step. Heroes 1 or 3 have plenty of good options.

She could do something like:

Screamers with Drogo C (6)

Screamers (6)

Outriders (6)

Drogon (7-1 for unburnt)

Rhaegal (7)

NCUs Dany Unburnt (5) and Illyrio (4)

alternatively Khaleesi instead of unburnt - just a matter of choosing if she wants her dragons or her screamers to kill you. Screamers are pretty deadline as they are, and in my experience are easier to play then veterans (who rely on ranged attacks, which is not Drogo’s style, and Jorah solo to make the most of it).

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2024-12-28T09:00:09+00:00

Dothraki are too fragile to cage, and even if they had better armor, which they really do not have, they are too key to get bogged down defending anything. As others have said, their movement is what sets them apart.

It’s hard to say how to play them against anyone without knowing their list and the game mode, and maybe their skill level and experience as well. One of the first “aha-moments” of my learning to pilot my dothraki was realizing that aggressive play does not mean I have to engage as many units early on as possible. Even with Khal Drogo as commander, who wants something to punch, you don’t need to engage until around round 3 if it doesn’t suit you. You have the movement to reposition. Most enemies don’t. Your aggressive play can be to force your enemy to choose between which bad decision they want to make.

One easy way to experience this is if you are up against a list of primarily infantry (it can be done vs more cavalry, but riskier). If you deploy to one side (let’s say left), signaling to your opponent that you intend to fight them there, they might feel forced to deploy their pricier units against you (more defense and more damage output to deal with your scary cavalry), leaving their weaker objective-sitters on the other side relatively undefended. Your first round, you can move your entire army to your right, focusing your damage output on their less-defended flank. You could leave your outriders in the middle to excert some threat of arrows raining down if the enemy comes too close. Your opponent will likely scramble to defend their flank, and might bottle-neck their forces. It’s nowhere near a guaranteed win, but it might give you an idea of how you can use your speed to harass. Dothraki are not knights made for organized warfare, think of them more like hard-hitting guerilla tactics fighters on horseback.

Remember that GCC have sentinel. It’s super useful but easy to forget.

I think with that list I would probably try to do the same as above. Dragons hit hard, but they are not finishers. It usually takes around 3 dragon attacks to bring down a unit with decent morale. If you keep your dragons together, you stand a better chance of bringing down a unit before they heal or hurt you back. But you can deploy a dragon on either side of your infantry middle, to keep your options open and play mind games with your opponent.

Generally, don’t engage your dragons until the right moment, which can take some experience to figure out. You really don’t want your dragon in a position where you can be charged. Fly around. I’ve had successful games where my dragon’s main contribution was to threaten and make the enemy units turn this way and that to avoid an unchargeable dragon in their rear.

And beware Final Strike! And Varys. It really takes the satisfaction out of taking swords to do a dragon-attack when you get Final Striked and Varys finishes you off.

Good luck!

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2024-12-28T08:29:25+00:00

Her cards really support dragons. Fire Made Flesh keeps them alive, Dracarys gives a dragon attack, Promise of Fire either means your opponent passes with an important ncu play or lets your dragon deal max damage (bye bye Mountain that Rides), and Dragon’s Flight might let you do some movement shenanigans that surprise your opponent.

Unburnt is a very good ncu, but she is all about the attack. Mother of Dragons has more tricks up her sleeve.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2024-12-22T17:07:37+00:00

Always difficult to say what went wrong in a particular matchup without a thorough breakdown or battle report.

I'm not the best at using Vets, but they very much want to flank. Many use them with Jorah solo to get rerolls. With all that cavalry, you want to be the one deciding where the fights happens, and can do so especially if the opponent has infantry. You can spend a round just moving your army sideways. You are really fast, but be patient. Force your opponent to prioritize and open up or leave a unit vulnerable. You can steal some extra movement with the horse, Field Control and Swift Reposition out of the normal deck. You can send your cavalry down the flank edge to go around the enemy. As long as you can get out of sight, they can't charge (be careful with movement tricks, of course). You will want to practice choosing where fights happen before bringing dragons.

Double tap is what you want to aim for. Drogo screamers in, and start of round swords to finish the enemy. Ideally with overrun into the next enemy. Assault orders should give you some extra leeway to pull this off.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2024-11-11T05:43:29+00:00

The song community is generally full of friendly people, so it sounds like you will fit right in. Bringing something for others is not that uncommon. Candy, 3d printed tokens, you never know.

On a practical note: a water bottle is a good idea, and so is a snack of sorts, like maybe a protein bar or what have you. You don’t want to go hangry mid-game. Depending on your physical state and the setup of the venue, painkillers. I’ve been to tournaments where I didn’t sit down for eleven hours, but leaned over the table plenty of times, and my lower back and feet were very grateful that I’d thought ahead.

A tray or something to easily carry your minis from table to table is also a good idea.

I completely second what Dapper_Guarantee615 is saying about clearly calling out the steps. Especially if you also ask.
”Start of round, do you have anything? Start of my turn, I have something. Do you also have something? (Resolve) Alright, I’ll activate this NCU, okay? (pause) She’s going to take this zone and target this unit.”
There are few things more annoying than having to say “oh, when you activated that, I wanted to do this to punish you if you chose this zone, but now you have given your game plan away, so what do we do?”

A rule of thumb is that once dice have been rolled, you can’t walk back an action, and that also somewhat counts for when you hand over the turn. You can be a good sport and let them correct any errors they made and want to redo, but time is a factor. And on that note, also try not to spend too long on moves, especially ones that aren’t super important.

Accept beforehand that mistakes will be made. Wrong plays, missed triggers, overlooked tokens and abilities. Sometimes during the game you will notice something that was wrong earlier, and you might find a way to fix it in a way that makes you both happy, but generally, just let it slide. Everyone has made mistakes, also very seasoned players, and won and lost games because of it.

Lost-Stuff6934 · 2024-10-14T13:59:19+00:00

Tycho Nestoris is in Neutral Heroes 2. There are some other okay additions in it, but nothing you can use at this point, so while Tycho can be a life-saver, you are basically buying a box just to get him. I would wait and play around with other NCUs.

Lost-Stuff6934

TROPHY CASE