Stannis's favorite bodyguards

[Mein Fury]

...In the end it does mean that, for the purpose of resource management, the Wardens have this little extra benefit with Stannis, who seem to enjoy conditions.

I will have to try him in Wardens in my all cheap unit lists. I def like the idea of this token placing/spending trick. That said, in lists where I do bring Stag Knights, I still think I’d rather he join them instead. In my limited experience, I’ve had better results trying to help a unit do what it already wants to do, but better, than I have had trying to mitigate its weaknesses. The Wardens are not an aggressive unit. They are slow and hit on 4+. Their high armor and low cost are their best assets. Stannis wants to be aggressive. Crit Blow and token invulnerability helps him both boost and maintain the combat effectiveness of a given unit. His cards can of course make his unit even better, turning the Wardens into an offensively viable unit, but they’ll still be slow, and still hit on 4+ outside of “Hold the Line”. They’ll be competent, but not scary. But if you add that card and any of his own cards to Stannis Stag Knights..that unit starts to get scary.

Also consider that with the imminent availability of Melisandre and/or Selyse, you’ll have the ability to drop the unit’s ranks by your own hand in order to get the bonus(es) you want, without having to rely solely on the enemy’s actions. The Stag Knights are the only unit that can suffer these “penalties” with a skip in their step; they’re happy to be at low health. Couldn’t say the same for a Stannis Warden unit. They’re going to want to be at 3 ranks. So you won’t want to be damaging them too much via sacrifices. Pretty much makes it off limits. If Stannis wasn’t in there though, that wouldn’t be the case. A defensive unit doesn’t need to hit as hard, as much as it needs to hold its position and survive.

Bottom line for me: if I manage to squeeze Stag Knights into a list, that’s where Stannis is going for the time being. If I decide I need more Activations and run all low-cost units 6 points or lower, then I will likely place him in Wardens.

 

[Oakwolf]

Also, Stag Knights can become Vicious, and from what we get of Melisandre, the R'hllor crew might like to play the panic game to some extent. We don't know what the new Stannis version will do, but i suppose he'll be based on R'hllor units.

Stag Knights with the current Stannis are certainly as elite as can be. Unyielding is extraordinary for such unit with morale 5+, and critical blow means they are immediately very effective in melee.

I'll have to re-try it, as most of my games so far i've put him in wardens.

 

[Mein Fury]

Also, Stag Knights can become Vicious, and from what we get of Melisandre, the R'hllor crew might like to play the panic game to some extent...

Ooo yeah, that’s a good point. I rarely used Vicious over Sundering, but it may start looking more attractive to me as these new characters/abiliies start adding up. Also, why does it feel like you’re one of maybe 3 people participating in these threads? Lol

 

[Oakwolf]

Because i don't use facebook much so i use forums for my hobbies, so i look here more often than the "social network" folk.

 

[JeppeP]

Stag knights are the best for him, especially his cards:
Oath of duty never gives penalties to morale and never gains panicked. if it is stannis his unit, you get +2 attack dice. so you get a 9/9/9 unit instead of a 10/8/6 unit. and a 5+ morale that never gets vicious or flanked (for morale)
tactical approach: D3 additional woulds if he has a condition token, if it is stannis his unit it is 3 wounds.

best part: these new things can never be nullified. just like trophies from lord of bones, or vows from Nights watch