The Most Advanced of the Free Folk’s Troops
In general, the Free Folk eschew the trappings of civilization. For most of the different tribes, the knowledge of smelting metals and shaping the resulting sheets into arms and armor is beyond them. Free Folk troops would rather craft leather armor or simply use hides of animals. Their weapons would be whatever they could grab, mostly clubs of some form. Some troops would harvest from the dead warriors further south. However, the Thenn Warriors are different. They do know how to heat and work metal, and they have managed to forge their own weapons and armor. While the bronze equipment they create isn’t nearly the same quality as that of any of the great Houses, it is still the most advanced gear of any of the Free Folk. Soon, Free Folk players in the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game will be able to add them to their forces. Let’s take a deeper look into just what they are like.
The Thenn Warriors cost six points to field, which makes them one of the more expensive units for the Free Folk, and their stats reflect some of this cost. They throw eight dice when at full ranks in melee, wielding their bronze weapons, hitting on a 4+. On the defensive side of things, their shields and armor grant them a Defense Save also of 4+. Bolstered by the knowledge of their (relative) heavy armor compared to their brethren, their Morale value is 6+. But their Defense Save and Morale are only a part of the transfer of their bronze armor from the fluff of their description to the crunch of their rules.
The Thenn Warriors have two special abilities that work in concert with one-another. First, they have the Order Taunt. It states that when an enemy within Short Range and Line of Sight activates, that unit must make a Morale Test. On a failure, that unit must charge the Thenn Warriors if possible. This can severely disrupt an opponent’s strategy, heavily altering their plans.
But if the Thenn Warriors are potentially going to be charged a lot by the enemy, this might make their average defensive stats seem like the unit is destined for destruction. But that’s where their other special ability Set Defense comes in. Enemies attacking the Thenn Warriors never get bonuses for Charging, Flanking, or attacking them in the Rear. This can turn a moderately-defensive unit into a real issue for enemies to remove from the battlefield.
The Thenn Warriors box also comes with a Unit Attachment in the form of the Chosen of Styr. The Chosen is a very straightforward UA, coming in at only a single point to add to a unit. When the unit that contains a Chosen of Styr activates, one enemy within Long Range becomes Weakened. So, while the Free Folk don’t generally have the strongest armor on the battlefield, if all of the enemy units are constantly Weakened, that hide or bronze armor will only seem that much more tough.
The Thenn Warriors can create a solid middle for a Free Folk force, drawing in enemies that might otherwise want to go off in other directions. Along with the Chosen of Styr, that will mean enemy forces will regularly have Weakened tokens on them, the Free Folk are getting a strong defensive boost with the release of this box set.
You can expect the Thenn Warriors to be hitting store shelves October 18th.
You can read more about the Thenn Warriors here.
