Stark Project : ASOIAF First Stark List

Hello everyone,

In our previous article, we introduced you to our dive into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire and the launch of a project centered around the iconic clash between House Stark and House Lannister. The project is progressing step by step, and today, we are thrilled to reveal our first 40-point Stark army list. This unveiling is accompanied by a stunning paint job of Sansa, Eddard and Catelyn Stark, beautifully done by the talented studio Unlimited Colours.

The North Awakens – Our First 40-Point Stark Army

Commander: Eddard Stark – Lord of Winterfell
Points: 40 | Activations: 7

Combat Units:

• House Umber Berserkers (6 pts)
  with Umber Champion (1 pts)
• House Karstark Spearmen (5 pts)
• Stark Bowmen (6 pts)
• House Tully Cavaliers (8 pts)
• Eddard’s Honor Guard (6 pts)
  with Eddard Stark – Lord of Winterfell

Non-Combat Units:

• Sansa Stark – Little Bird (4 pts)
• Catelyn Stark – Lady of Winterfell (4 pts)

This list aims to strike a balance between thematic immersion and tactical viability, with strong references to the great houses of the North. It stays true to the essence of House Stark, honor, discipline, sacrifice, and a taste for direct, brutal combat.

Far from political scheming or power games, this army prefers to advance, hold the line, strike hard… and, if necessary, die with honor for the North.

• The House Umber Berserkers, once known as an assault unit as powerful as it was fragile, have now become more resilient: for each rank lost, they gain +1 to their Defense roll and +1 to their Morale test. This mechanic reverses the usual functioning of troops, turning the loss of fighters into a source of rage and determination. The unit’s champion, meanwhile, provides a significant offensive boost. Thanks to his Order: Incite, the unit gains Vicious and can roll its highest attack dice value when performing a melee attack. This means that even when weakened, the Berserkers still strike at full power, while forcing their opponent to suffer a –2 penalty on their Panic test. The champion also grants Furious Charge, which makes the enemy unit Vulnerable during a charge, forcing them to reroll any failed Defense rolls. The combination of Vulnerable and Vicious creates a deadly synergy: the target first suffers increased physical damage, then fails their Panic test more easily, resulting in even greater losses.
• The House Karstark Spearmen embody discipline and tenacity. Unlike other units that rely on spectacular charges or massive damage, their role is to hold the line, even in the most critical situations. Their Order: Hold the Line! When activated, the unit can target an engaged enemy and deal 2 hits, increased by +1 for each rank remaining in the unit, reflecting their ability to gradually but surely wear down their opponent. Their Stand Your Ground! rule: when engaged in melee with a single enemy, that enemy receives no flank or rear charge bonuses, preventing them from exploiting tactical maneuvers to bypass the line. Karstark Spearmen are an ideal unit for controlling terrain, protecting flanks, and providing a solid foundation upon which other troops can rely.
• Stark Bowmen may not be the most spectacular units on the battlefield, but they play a crucial strategic support role. Their effectiveness relies on their ability to strike from a distance, despite obstacles, thanks to their Arrow Volley rule, which ignores terrain and other units when determining line of sight. Additionally, when an enemy suffers a wound from them, it becomes Weakened, which works as follows: the attacker can spend this token after an enemy has rolled their attack dice to force them to reroll some or all of those dice. This ability gives Stark Archers a significant tactical role: disrupting enemy attacks, reducing their effectiveness, and indirectly supporting allied units on the front line.
• The House Tully Cavalry play a crucial role as heavy skirmishers in the Stark roster. With a speed of 5 and a free maneuver at the start of activation, they can control battlefield mobility, threaten enemy flanks, or quickly reposition according to tactical needs. Their lance benefits from the Sundering rule, which imposes a –1 penalty on the defender’s Defense dice, and during a charge, they gain +2 attack dice per remaining rank, significantly enhancing their offensive impact. The Rallying Banner completes their support role: whenever an allied unit within Short range or less passes a Morale test, it heals 1 wound, improving the durability of Stark troops on the field, especially when combined with the rules for Eddard Stark and Catelyn Stark.
• Eddard’s Honor Guard is an elite unit that combines offensive power with battlefield control capabilities. It is equipped with the Winter’s Bites weapons, which possess the Critical Strike ability, significantly increasing their damage potential on each successful attack. This unit becomes even more formidable as it takes losses: when a rank is destroyed, it gains +1 to hit, and if two ranks are lost, it can reroll any attack dice, ensuring that even when weakened, it maintains maximum offensive capability. In addition to their attacking power, the Honor Guard benefits Go Down Fighting rule, which automatically inflicts a wound on an engaged enemy whenever a rank of the unit is destroyed. This mechanic turns the loss of ranks into a continuous offensive threat, making the unit difficult to neutralize without sustaining heavy losses.
• Sansa Stark is a non-combat unit whose impact on the battlefield relies entirely on tactical management and card control. Thanks to her Repeating the Words ability, once per game when activated, she can return a tactical card from your discard pile to your hand, providing a way to replay strategies that have already been used. Additionally, each time she captures a zone, her effect allows, if you choose, replacing the zone’s effect with the return of a tactical card from your discard pile to your hand, offering the opportunity to reuse a successful strategy multiple times during the battle. Her strength therefore lies in flexibility and planning, allowing her to maintain a constant flow of tactical cards and maximize strategic opportunities.
• Catelyn Stark is a non-combat unit whose role focuses on supporting and tactically enhancing allied units. She possesses the Influence ability, which allows her, when she captures a zone, to attach her card to a combat unit until the end of the round. Each time she influences a unit, that unit removes 1 of its Status tokens, improving its combat performance. As long as a unit is influenced by Catelyn’s card, it always attacks using its highest dice value, ensuring maximum offensive potential regardless of circumstances or losses. In summary, Catelyn acts as a strategic support, capable of boosting the effectiveness of allied units at critical moments.
• Eddard Stark, integrated into the Honor Guard, strengthens this elite unit through his Iron Resolve ability, which enhances its mental and physical resilience: he adds +1 to Panic test rolls and suffers 1 less wound when failing a Panic test. His Rally Cry ability allows him, before each melee attack, to target another allied unit within Long Range or less to heal 2 of its wounds, providing direct battlefield support. This ability, combined with those of Catelyn Stark, allows the formation of a true defensive square for a unit within range.

We’re delighted to present the three key characters of our army, beautifully brought to life by Unlimited Colours Studio at their Level 3 painting standard.

Our next step is, of course, to continue developing the Stark army as much as possible before turning our attention to the Lannisters. It’s very likely that we’ll be testing the list and playing a few games within our gaming club. Our goal is to make steady progress. We’ve already acquired all the miniatures, but the painting schedule, being handled on commission, is currently slowing us down a bit. If you’d like to support us and help move the project forward, feel free to contribute on our Patreon. The next article will showcase the cavalry of House Tully.
See you soon!

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At the bottom of each post, you’ll find a list of all related blog entries, which we’ll update as the project evolves.

1. Stark Projet : ASOIAF The beginning.
2. Stark Project: ASOIAF First Stark List.
3. Stark Project : ASOIAF House Tully Cavalry
4. Comming soon…

Questions, ideas, spelling error or just want to share your thoughts? Leave a comment below! And if you enjoy our work, a little support would help us keep creating more and more content.

See you soon!