Visions in the Flames: Attachments and Units in Update 1.5

Soon we will be releasing our v1.5 Update for A Song of Ice and Fire Tabletop Miniature Game. Its been close to 18 months since the game’s initial release, and over that time we’ve made a number of improvements and alterations to various aspects, all in an effort to bring about the best balance and play-experiences we can. 1.5 continues that in what we’re calling our first “major update”. While with every iteration we’ve worked to improve wording, close problematic areas, and in general tighten the game, 1.5 will see some actual mechanic changes to certain aspects of gameplay.

While incorporating these changes, we also took the time to evaluate all existing units across the board – how they were performing, their role in their respective armies, etc. The overall end goal has always been that a player should be able to take what they want and, if utilized properly, nothing should be a flat “better or worse” choice. Some might recognize this as wanting “perfect balance”, a.k.a. the goal of every tabletop war game. While a near-impossible feat to achieve, that doesn’t mean we can’t strive toward it. As a result, we’ve modified and/or updated several units, whether it be point cost, stats, or abilities.

This is primarily limited to the initial three faction releases: Lannisters, Neutrals, and Starks, as we have comfortably gathered enough data across the year and a half the game has been out to make these decisions. While we have looked at some of the initial wave of Night’s Watch and Free Folk, we’re keeping any modifications (to the level of the previous three) for a later time until more overall data can be gathered. So while they will receive some minor shifts, the focus is again on the initial three.

Today we’ll be talking about three of these changes, and we hope they’ll set the tone and expectations of all that is to come.

The first change we’ll discuss is Rodrik Cassel (Master-at-Arms). This Commander Attachment will have his Martial Superiority Ability replaced by Order: Mark Target.

When it comes to Rodrik, he’s all about making enemies Vulnerable, and then using that Vulnerable token for tactical purposes. His current version was unfortunately limited to just his own unit and, even then, required an amount of set-up to accomplish. By switching out Martial Superiority with Mark Target we’ve opened up Rodrik’s capabilities to dish out Vulnerable exactly where and when he needs to capitalize with his effects and Tactics Cards.

We’ll use Rodrik here as an example of a minor tweak to his Ability that isn’t shifting his role around, just making it easier to utilize.

The second change we’ll look at is to the House Tully Sworn Shields. This is an easy one to go over as the unit is merely seeing a reduction in points from 7 to 6.