Visions in the Flames 2023 – Free Folk

Hello free men, women, and giants of all tribes! Fábio Cury, Designer and Lead Developer of the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game writing to you here.

In this article we will address the changes made to the Free Folk for update, listing what units have Ability changes, what units have changed in points, as well as changes that are unique to the Free Folk.

If you want to read more about general changes in Abilities overall, please check this article: Visions in the Flames 2023 (V2021.S02) – General

Faction Changes Overview

As all factions, the Free Folk had a wide array of Attachments affected by the general changes in Abilities. Also, due to their unique nature, the Free Folk were the faction to have the most changes to their Basic Tactics Deck. In this update, one of our decisions was to only make changes to Tactics cards when strictly necessary and some of the Free Folk Tactics cards needed changes to improve the game experience for all players. Besides the above, there were few Abilities changed and even a couple points costs changes.

We’ve listed all the changes below by category to help you out.

General Ability Changes

• Free Folk Tactics Deck: Changes to Coordination Tactics Tactics card.
• Jarl, Advance Raid Leader: Changes to Outflank.
• The Great Walrus, Lord of the Frozen Shore: Changes to Hardened.
• Tormund Giantsbane, Tall-Talker, Horn-Blower, Breaker of Ice: Changes to War Cry.
• Wun Wun: Changes to War Cry.

Points Costs Changes

• Frozen Shore Chariots increased from 4 to 5 points.

The Frozen Shore Chariots were competing with Raiders as cheap gap-fillers. By increasing their points cost, we wish to reinforce their role as an elite unit (or as far as “elite” goes for Free Folk infantry) like the other tribal groups.

Specific Ability Changes

• Cave Dweller Savages: Changes to Frenzied Swings.

We removed the last effect of Frenzied Swings. Now, the Cave Dwellers do not suffer Wounds when rolling 1s on Attacks. Their setback should be their poor Defense value and the Wounds were too punishing.

• Free Folk Tactics Deck: Changes to There’s Too Many! Tactics card.

We removed the extra Wounds on failure of the Panic test. The Wound output of this card was too high for how easy it was to set up. Having the decrease to the roll is already enough to make this card useful in the Free Folk Tactics Deck.

• Free Folk Tactics Deck: Changes to Endless Horde Tactics card.

Endless Horde, when drawn in earlier Rounds, was too impactful on the battlefield. The mere fact of this possibility was skewing the game’s focus on when this card would appear instead of the battlefield itself. We’ve adapted Endless Horde to become a “when this unit is destroyed” effect card, similar to the conditions on cards in other factions. This solution allows both players to be able know when the new unit of Raiders will arrive and focuses the desired tension created by the card on a specific moment of the game instead of permeating the minds of both players throughout the entire match.

• Frozen Shore Bear Riders: Added Order: Charging Volley.

The Bear Riders’ ranged attacks were seldom beneficial. With this change, we hope to see more Ranged Attacks coming from the Bear Riders.

• Frozen Shore Hunters: Range reduced from Long Range to Short Range.

The Hunters’ range was reduced to keep them on par with their points cost.

• Mag the Mighty: Changes to Chieftain of the Giants special rule card.

With this update, Mag the Mighty only costs 5 points if chosen as your Commander. Mag as a Commander had limited list building options. With this change, we give players some wiggle room to experiment.

• Mance Rayder, King Beyond the Wall: Removed Rally Point, added Boisterous Charisma, added The King is Dead!

Mance was outshining most other Free Folk Commanders. This was due to him being able to mitigate the Free Folk’s weakest attribute: Morale. Although we do believe that Mance should bring Morale improvements to his army, they should stick to his unit. That being said, we placed Mance more into the role of “grand strategist” by adding Boisterous Charisma. Lastly, we added The King is Dead! to Mance, as to make him even more the focal point of the battlefield. He is the King of the Free Folk, after all!

This Visions in the Flames was as long as the Free Folk are many! I hope I haven’t tired you with my endless horde of words! Though we tried to keep the changes to Free Folk minimal, they were very impactful. Free Folk players will now find an array of new options to experiment when creating their lists in hopes of conquering greener pastures