HOUSE CARDS

Bad.  Some people are really jazzed on SuperStannis, but I think the condition on his ability is too onerous to get excited about – I don’t want to be at a “permanent” disadvantage to get +1 combat strength in a single battle. Until the endgame, when you want to march last anyway, I'd rather have turn order priority even if it makes my 4 card a blank.  Davos and Brienne are two of the better 2 cards (Roose and Balon are miles better, but  play so “unlike” their printed combat strengths the comparison feels unfair).  Salladhor is a great 1 card, and Patchface is a unique weapon/deterrent, but at best Salla is 2nd best in his rank and Patchface 3rd.  Renly is not good, and Melisandre is one of the most useless cards in the game.

Baratheon is bad at both inflicting casualties and defending against them, as they only have 2.5 swords, one of them is almost completely useless and another shares space with their only fort.  Patchface can be a real blow, but the nature of Martell and Lannister’s 0 cards means you have to be cautious about throwing him around willy-nilly. The deck as a whole just doesn’t do any particular thing very well.  Tyrell manipulates the board, Martell kills units and momentum, Lannister manipulates you into exposing yourself, Stark survives and strikes back, and Greyjoy overpowers you directly.  Baratheon is just…kind of there. They have a lot of strength pumping abilities like Greyjoy, but with far more stringent conditions. Stannis needs you to allow yourself to be raided first every turn.  Davos needs you to fire your biggest gun early.  Sallador is best on defense at sea, which is not a situation you can engineer yourself.

It's also pretty bad at baiting high cards from opponents, in spite of Patchface's ability to compound the card imbalance if an opponent overplays initially, because it lacks forts to protect itself from the swords of Edd/Viper/Gregor. And it is highly susceptible to bait itself, since opponents don't give much of a shit about losing to Stannis or Renly if it comes to that.

KEY CARDS:

Sallador Saan.  He is what keeps Martell from simply wearing you down and taking Shipbreaker Bay every game. Just be mindful that he will cancel out allied support as well as enemy strength.

Patchface.  The only truly unique weapon in Baratheon’s arsenal.  The best times to use him are when your opponent has 7 cards or 1 left (so you can avoid a card – probably Doran – for an entire hand cycle). Though in a pinch you can attack them when they have 3 left, to use him as a version of Tyrion, forcing them to leave a power card as their last, and not get it back on the redraw.

The other question is, with full hands, who do you discard?  Against Stark, Roose is the prime target.  Against Lanni/Tyrell, I am usually more afraid of their 3 card abilities than the 4's strength, but either are fine. Against a savvy player, I will pick Queen of Thorns more often, as that old broad can cause no end of trouble if her handler has some imagination.  Against Martell, it’s frequently a bluff that will either draw out the Viper or Doran if he is calling you on it.  I’d generally just toss whichever he doesn’t use, though sometimes Arianne makes the most sense if you have a powerful enough march lined up to take a difficult territory.

Last edited by Ser Hodor on 2018-Aug-28 22:08, edited 1x in total

BOARD POSITION

Pretty Good.  Like Lannister and Tyrell, Baratheon is a middle house with 4 neighbors who can all be allies or enemies.  But unlike Lannister, they have a protected sea area in Blackwater Bay, Sallador and an extra ship to provide a much more robust defense. Plus they don’t have to contend with a Greyjoy pounding on their door right out of the gate.

But having a lot of potential enemies means you have a lot of options for conquest. We saw the inverse of this with Martell, but pretty much no matter what happens, Baratheon can involve himself in the war somehow to tilt the outcome.  You can directly poach a castle from Lannister, Tyrell or Martell from your core lands, which is a key component for keeping Baratheon competitive in a lot of final turn tiebreaker scenarios (again, we saw the inverse with Martell). And thanks to Sallador you can also launch sea offensives without leaving your flank completely vulnerable.

Baratheon is fairly unique in that its second stronghold has a neutral force protecting it.  However, this generally doesn’t amount to much, since Bara’s starting forces and tracks are enough that the only thing that can stop them from taking it comfortably on the second turn is Web Of Lies (or an unwary Stark/Martell allowing you to take their sea in the opening round and begin a full invasion on the next).  Other than that, Baratheon lands are short on supply but rich in crowns.  While only Dragonstone is fully protected from raiding, with some competent diplomacy and the advantage of starting and staying ahead on the Iron Throne track, you should be able to count on a CP order in either Kingswood or King’s Landing most turns, and besides that Game Of Thrones events should provide several additional windfalls per game.

The downside is limited supply.  You can often coax Stark into letting you squat into Mountains of the Moon, but that doesn’t even get you a second 3 unit army – and since your seas are generally packed in tight, that means 2 units on land max.  Contesting Blackwater is always a priority, but unless Lannister is truly hard pressed by Greyjoy they won’t just agree to give it up, and Stoney Sept makes for a strong base of support for them to keep it.  If you can’t take it, it’s a looong walk to a 4th barrel anywhere else.  You’ll need to maintain dominant track positions along with some other extraordinary factor, like a truly dedicated ally or a very opportune Web Of Lies/Sea Of Storms, to break through enough to establish a firm beachhead.

The good news with middle position is that you have many options for who to fight. The bad news is that most of the time other people will decide for you. Baratheon is a popular target to pick a fight with for a host of reasons. All their neighbors (except Stark, who doesn't need to pick fights anyway) will look over and see the least threatening house deck to contend with, without much in the way of swords or special weapons like Doran/Cersei/Loras.  For Lannister, if they can secure peace on the western front the figure they’ll be fighting you for Blackwater anyway (good luck trying to squeeze an invading army south through Searoad Marches without it).  For Tyrell, they start out desperate to appease Martell and avoid a bum rush.  For Martell, peace with Tyrell allows for CP in Princes Path, which plugs the biggest hole in their development. Peace with Baratheon, on the other hand, hardly makes the Boneway a safe CP position.

Because of this, Baratheon’s game has to be more reactive. If Greyjoy and Lannister are allied, you probably have to fight Lannister. If there is a southern alliance, you have to batten down the hatches and expect an assault. If both alliances are in place, you’re pretty much screwed. Reach out to Stark, but you guys can’t help each other as directly as the others can.


KEY TERRITORIES:

Shipbreaker Bay. Protect it at all costs.

Blackwater. The supply is vital, but it also allows you to raid Lannister territories while putting a buffer between them and King's Landing. If you can CP there a couple times a game, you'll be well ahead of the crowd.

Last edited by Ser Hodor on 2018-Aug-28 22:17, edited 1x in total

TRACK/START POSITIONS

Okay. You have an extra ship, which is crucial to getting yourself set up before anyone can really pressure you. And you start with the Iron Throne, which is nice for tiebreaking early clashes, and especially for preemptive raiding to protect your CP generation in Kingswood/Kings Landing.  Some people don’t bother trying to retain it, but I say keep putting out 1-2 as long as it’s cheap (or around turn 8). Tiebreaking is a useful diplomatic tool, but mostly super-Stannis is overrated. +1 combat strength in a single battle can be crucial to breaking through in those narrow offensive moves, but protecting your support orders from raids can frequently be worth several points, multiple times a turn.

You start behind everyone but Lannister on fiefdoms, which is meh, but you do get a star order. That is vital to immediately muster troops with (and then, to help overcome the neutral force in Kings Landing quickly), while still being meager enough that Martell will not want to “waste” Doran on taking it away before there is a Clash.

Like their house deck, Bara's starting position is like a nerfed version of Greyjoy's.  You can’t fill your lands as immediately as the Ironborn, but thanks to the extra units, star order and small size of Baratheon holdings, you can claim all 5 mp, 4 crowns and 2 barrels by the second turn, while still playing conservatively enough that you won’t leave yourself especially vulnerable to an unfortunate early clash, or any other Westeros combination for that matter.

Last edited by Ser Hodor on 2018-Sep-05 07:53, edited 1x in total

SPECIAL/UNIQUE STRENGTHS

Power Production. For a middle house, Baratheon actually enjoys some pretty solid crown positions. Since you tend to hit supply limits pretty early, you can CP in Dragonstone and its port pretty consistently.  Plus, since you start with the throne, you can preemptively raid other houses to protect a CP in Kingswood or King’s Landing (while crucially, still being able to support those areas from the sea).  Plus each Game Of Thrones should provide you with 5 tokens, which is more than anyone else can count on without having done some serious, much more difficult expansion.  

Not much else. They start pretty strong, but not as strong as Greyjoy.  Their deck has a couple cards that punch above their printed combat strength, so it doesn’t get too vulnerable as it thins out unless you drastically misplay it. Starting with the throne does help you avoid inopportune Muster or Supply events before you get situated, I guess.


SPECIAL/UNIQUE WEAKNESSES

Low supply.  This is a real hassle, and one you pretty much need an alliance to help rectify.  Stark will usually let you hang out in Mountains of the Moon if you ask nicely, and if he’s really busy you can sneak over into the Fingers too.  And if he’s not busy, it probably means Lannister is, and so you can compete for Blackwater.

Not being able to pick your battles.  This is not even so much of a weakness, but it’s something I’ve seen newer players struggle with.  Different houses require different play styles.  Stark generally benefits from playing passively. Greyjoy has to be decisive, and keep the pressure on. Lannister has to be crafty in his diplomacy and card selection, to set up big sweeping plays. Martell has to bide time and strike quickly when the opportunity presents itself. Tyrell has to hoard tokens and overrun the opposition once they’re dominating the tracks. Baratheon needs to be reactive, seeing what alliances develop, and attacking whoever is left without an enemy. I can go on and on about how I prefer to invade Stark in the North, and I will try whatever I can to avoid fighting Martell.  But it’s not really up to me. I can’t actually devote resources to going north unless both the west and the south are at war with each other. As long as Martell is riding the fence, moving your sea forces away is just asking for it, and if Greyjoy is attacking Stark, they are probably going to benefit more from the double team than you are, on top of which you’re basically giving Lannister a completely free pass. Similarly, double teaming Tyrell is likely to give most of the benefit to Martell, since they get the sea access and are more protected from Lannister interference.

EARLY STRATEGIC DECISIONS

Secure an alliance. I always start reaching out to Martell, because I hate playing against Doran and Arianne. Tyrell is also a good option, though, since they can provide assistance with either Martell or Lannister, and they are the worst option for invading anyway. You can’t utilize sea power, don’t have the supply to field a large enough army to overpower opposing sea support, and are vulnerable to being cut off from either side. Stark is fine as a last resort, but you can’t ask much more from them than that they stop Greyjoy from running away with the game.

There are basically two opening order sets.  Muster immediately, or go right for King’s Landing.  I much prefer the former.  CP in Kingswood, march 0 in Shipbreaker Bay, and CP* in Dragonstone.  Assuming Stark or Martell are not foolish enough to allow you to take their seas by not playing a march +1 in Shivering Sea/Sea Of Dorne, move both ships into Blackwater Bay and muster ships in Shipbreaker and the port.  Then the next round, you can support +1 in Blackwater Bay, march the knight into King’s Landing and the footman into Crackclaw (or leave him in Dragonstone for CP orders if you are very concerned with power production and don’t think you have a real shot at Blackwater). Relying on Blackwater for the extra support point means you aren’t susceptible to Rains Of Autumn forcing you to march an extra unit.
The only other thing that stops you from moving in promptly is a Web Of Lies with no muster (and you can always pick it on Throne Of Blades so that you can make a siege engine if you see Web coming).

This route leaves you with 7 tokens, along with the throne for tiebreaking, to take into an immediate Clash. You fall a little behind on unit production if Muster comes right away, but you can minimize that probability through Throne of Blades and you will already have gained 2 additional units on Tyrell/Greyjoy through your order. Taking King’s Landing right away theoretically provides better results from a quick muster, but it gains you 2 muster points, which is what you would have gotten from the CP order anyway.  It does net you an extra token if Game Of Thrones comes up (remember that you won’t get the extra one from a ship in the port), but it costs you 2 the most of the time that GOT does not come out.

No, the real benefit of taking Kings Landing quickly is mobility, putting your units in position to move aggressively into Blackwater on turn 2. But Lannister can still put up quite a fight if Greyjoy isn’t breathing down their neck (and if they are, you can probably hold Blackwater on the following turn anyway), so I generally don’t think it’s worth exposing yourself to a potentially disastrous clash to try to eke out such a marginal advantage. If the Westeros cards cooperate, you will be better off for having gone that route. But a fast start does have the effect of drawing attention to yourself, and since you don’t really know who your enemies are when laying the first set of orders, I don’t see any reason to alarm anyone.  And since the conservative route essentially protects you from all eventualities, I really don’t like courting the additional risk.

Nice series, just discovered it!

I agree with most of what you said, but want to clarify your opinion that Greyjoy will benefit more from a Stark double-team than Baratheon. I see it the opposite, where Bara gets the spoils from that war as soon as Stark's guard is down in the Narrow Sea, because he has mobility to far more territories than GJ. Plus, his ultimate basis of support (Narrow Sea) protects his own sea (Shipbreaker), whereas GJ's basis of support (Bay of Ice) does not protect Ironman's Bay. This leaves GJ vulnerable to a Lannister backstab, which is pretty much automatic after Winterfell falls to GJ. Also, Stark tends to occupy the WF port longer than the White Harbor port, since it's so easy to sink that ship with a siege, especially with a throne advantage (take the Eyrie next!).

It can take some time to get support set up in the Narrow Sea, of course, but there are many ways to get it earlier, before clearing the Shivering Sea. Sea of Storms, having the raven, and gambling on Stark's own self-interest supporting himself can all allow a support order there to defend against Martell. Sometimes you don't even need to clear the shivering sea, if Stark gets all of his land troops killed.

You just have to keep GJ to 5 castles, since unlucky cards or poor Lannister defense around Riverrun can end things earlier than expected. You have time on your side, whereas GJ is always looking over his shoulder with his navy spread out.

Looking at my own Baratheon victories, it's probably about 50% going north, 45% through the interior, and 5% south. So we agree about Martell at least!

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Zizzeus Guide to AGoT

While you are correct that the Narrow Sea technically provides access to more territories than Bay Of Ice, its been my experience that it is a superior location for launching an invasion of the North.  Partly because it provides direct access to Winterfell, which is the jewel of the kingdom, and partly because it is much easier to secure unraidable support from there, since a fleet in the Narrow Sea has further still to go to finish off its opposition.  Furthermore, since the Golden Sound is fully enveloped by Greyjoy seas, Lannister has to really telegraph their intentions before they can launch an effective backstab.  Whereas ESS will always be full of ships ready to pounce, and Martell's more limited options mean that their backstab is more likely and harder to plan against.

On top of Narrow Sea being easier to take back, it provides access to Moat Cailin, which Greyjoy can still contest overland.  In a full double team scenario, where Stark is wiped out, I'd expect Greyjoy to lock down Winterfell right out of the gate, and probably Moat Cailin while Bara is still trying to complete his sea conquest and open up the Eyrie.  Then White Harbor becomes a toss up, but even if Bara holds it, Greyjoy still gets the stronghold advantage, with a tighter naval support system.

Don't get me wrong, going north is my favorite route as Baratheon.  But if Greyjoy is already up there, most of the time you are just softening up the resistance to their total victory by pressing for more limited gains.

Love your analyses so thank you for writing them! One thing you didn't cover was Storm's End. In an alliance with Martell, that's often their ask but the port gives them too much of an advantage to raid or attack the sea so I'm always hesitant to let that one go. What do you think about Storm's End during a Martell alliance as Baratheon?

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I drink and I know things.

I consider Storm's End to be Martell territory.  It's generally not worth squabbling over (even if you are fighting Martell, you want to fight only the absolutely essential battles, so as not to keep bringing Doran/Arianne back from the dead), and it's a handy bellwether of incoming Martell betrayal when they put a ship in the port.

Agree on Storm's End. If you take it, Martell will fight you and it's much easier for them to hold it. It's got limited value, except if you can take it as a last minute castle.
If you want to fight Martell, beat him at sea and take Storm's End as part of the spoils...

You could ask them to leave it empty as part of the alliance deal but ultimately you would have to back down in the event Martel insists.

I find it's easy enough to just remind Martell that a ship in the port means war.  They can't really protest, as there is no "innocent" reason to put one there.  They can't CP in it, so it serves literally no purpose except for attacking Shipbreaker Bay.

Agree with Hodor - if we talk experienced players game - that should be obvious enough, but friendly reminder never hurts.
On the other hand if you play against unexperienced Martel (newbie, not playing 6p often, ect.) you can just remind him of this and offer explenation for your reasoning.

I would say there is at least a semi useful reason to put the ship in that harbour. That ship can net you two to three pt during the course of a game through the "game of thrones" westeros card.
Although that might not sound that much, Martell has not the best power farms, especially during war times. These pt can make a difference in the long run.
That it also serves a second purpose is another story...

I havent played that much games, so maybe that is only the perspective of a rather new player.

I would say there is at least a semi useful reason to put the ship in that harbour. That ship can net you two to three pt during the course of a game through the "game of thrones" westeros card.
Although that might not sound that much, Martell has not the best power farms, especially during war times. These pt can make a difference in the long run.
That it also serves a second purpose is another story...

I havent played that much games, so maybe that is only the perspective of a rather new player.
The port of Sunspear provides tokens in Game Of Thrones.  The port of Storm's End, which we were discussing, does not.

Sorry, I read that again. Thought that that rule only applies for actively farming pt with the order, but you are right, it is also printed on the westeros card. I should have checked that beforehand.