The Leaders of the Free
While those that live in the south may see the Free Folk as a mass of mindless, faceless barbarians, within the army’s ranks are many individuals of note. They are the generals, the leaders, and those that have distinguished themselves from their brethren. Soon, many of them will be making their way to tabletops in the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game as part of the Free Folk Heroes 1 box. Let’s take a look at what players will be getting.
Like all Hero Box sets, the Free Folk box contains a mix of attachments and NCUs, some of whom can be made the commander of the army. In this set, Styr, The Weeper, Harma, and Rattleshirt can all be chosen as the army commander. Each one comes with their own set of Tactics cards, emphasizing their playstyle.
Styr’s cards hurt your enemy for damaging your army (which you’ll note is a main goal of most opposing forces). The Weeper pushes his army’s units to their limits, causing devastating damage, but also exhausting his own troops. Harma adds more maneuverability to her army, letting them reposition to attack the enemy with ease.
Finally, Rattleshirt rewards units that destroy the enemy to the man. Along with the stat cards for the models in the box, this set also contains a special unit stat card. Rattleshirt brings with him a special unit of Followers of Bone called The Bonelord’s Chosen. Players who have a Followers of Bone unit can upgrade their unit to the Bonelord’s Chosen, but only if Rattleshirt is attached to them. The unit has slightly better defensive stats than the standard version of the unit, and it also gains Prey on Fear, letting them restore wounds whenever an enemy engaged with them fails a Panic Test.
The two NCUs in the set both have Influence abilities. As fitting his style, Styr pushes the unit he’s influencing harder, letting them do free wounds to the enemy, but in return, the unit will suffer automatic hits when he leaves. Meanwhile, Ygritte causes a unit’s Attachments to lose all their abilities. If an enemy Attachment is causing issues, she’s a great way to negate them temporarily until they can be taken out by units on the field.
The Hero Boxes for the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game are truly treasure troves for players. Filled with all manner of attachments and NCUs, each figure can drastically change the way an army plays. Having a whole box of them opens up even more. We’ve barely touched on all the options coming in this set, and the impact they will have on the battlefield will be felt for quite a while.
The Free Folk Heroes Box 1 will be coming out August 1st.