Houses of Westeros Scenario

Hi. This is my first attempt at a scenario, and it is in its fourth iteration. It's based on jammyme's Houses of Westeros map, which I've always liked.

As most people know who have played it, each territory has units unique to the region (knights (main attack) and guardsman (main defense)). The idea in this scenario is to have 10 players, each starting with all of the territories that have the same units:

Crownlands
Reach
Dorne
Stormlands
Westerlands
Riverlands
Vale
Iron Islands (consisting solely of House Greyjoy)
North (including Night's Watch)
Wastes (consisting of Lands of Always Winter, Beyond the Wall and Skagos)


Balance: to the astute observer, you'll see that there is a severe balance problem, based solely on the number of territories, production capacity and income. I have attempted to even these issues out fairly effectively through two means:

1) Events: I have events that take place on Turns 2 and 4. The big event is Turn 2, where Iron Islands and Wastes get tons of units, and all the rest get varying degrees of units based on defensive need. The units receive are City Watch and the native guardsmen or "other" units (Ironborn Guardsmen, White Walkers, Wildlings). Turn 4 gives Iron Islands and Wastes a few more units (just on the caps), and all the other players get a few units here and there.

2) Starting Funds: every player gets a different amount of starting funds. The amounts are not random, but based on the base income of the player's territories and the cost of all the territories. From there, the funds are augmented or reduced based on need (mostly augmented) - for example, Iron Islands and Wastes get huge starting funds compared to their initial territories for obvious reasons, though not so much that they never need to expand - they must attack to survive.

Strategies: I have some strat suggestions and imperatives:

General suggestion: by far, my favorite and most effective strats for playing this map (under any circumstances) are NC and MoS, in that order of preference. The vast river systems and coastlines are ripe for NC and MoS exploitation. Obviously, everyone has their preferences, so go for it. Due to the relative poverty of this map, I think that LB might not be wise, but you're free to try it, of course.

Specific suggestions/limitations:

North: due to the large number of units and relatively low income and the sheer range of territory to protect, PD is pretty much the only viable option here. The North Guardsmen and City Watch really eat up funds, even though I have increased the starting funds to allow more production to be utilized on Turn 2. RA or LB are likely to cripple you.

***The most important thing to remember about playing the North is PATIENCE. You will lose territory early. However, I have been working on the funds and event units such that a turning point is reasonably achievable without needing to be an expert player of atWar.***

Iron Islands: whatever you think works best - I haven't had a chance to play this one yet, so I would be inclined to start with MoS since the Ironborn Longships are stealth units, as well, but that's just my guess. Due to their range, they would complement NC quite well, also (being able to accompany the Black Drommonds to their full range under NC).

Riverlands: the Riverlands are vulnerable from every angle, particularly with the Kingsguard from King's Landing. I have increased the number of defense units on Turn 2 compared to some of the others. PD is probably one of the better options, as well as NC/MoS due to most caps being on a river, including those of their nearest foes (Vale, Crownlands).

Westerlands: RA or NC would work here, as would Blitz since the Westerland Knights and Guardsmen are so slow, though powerful.

Wastes: Since all of the available units are "other" units or stealth (White Walkers, Wildlings and Archers), then most strats are not much help at first. The player may wish to think ahead to what they would need once they made progress into North's territories. Since there is a large number of starting funds, LB might be a viable option, as well as Blitz (any strat that affects all units, regardless of designation).

For the rest, do whatever works best for you. I have yet to lose playing Crownlands with NC (bear in mind that I have the Ground: Special Defense upgrade, so I can buy more Goldcloaks than the events provide).

Thank you for your patience, and have fun! Please let me know what you think, either here or by PM.

~tra115

I created a second one, called "tra115's Smaller Scenario". It removes Wastes and North and disables the associated territories. That part of the map was giving me too much trouble. The full scenario is still published and fully playable, if anyone is interested. In the meantime, I think I'll have greater success fine-tuning the remaining 8 players in the Smaller Scenario. Let me know what you think. I'm open to suggestions, from event units to starting funds to relative strengths.