The Dragons Take Flight
If a soldier is lucky, while they may witness all sorts of horrors on the battlefield, they will never witness the devastation of a dragon’s fury. However, foes of House Targaryen do not have luck on their side. For Daenerys, the Mother of Dragons, doesn’t command just one, but three of these mythical behemoths. She guides them into combat, spraying their hellfire across enemy ranks, sewing discord and panic in their wake. What’s left after a full blast from a dragon is nothing but a smoldering ruin. With the release of the Mother of Dragons box set for the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game, House Targaryen players will have the joy of recruiting these majestic wonders to their forces, while everyone else will know the fear of staring a dragon in the eye.
The Mother of Dragons box set includes a new figure for Daenerys as well as her three mighty dragon figures and all their accompanying cards. Both versions of Daenerys are Commanders, with one being a Unit Attachment while the other is an NCU. Let’s take a look at Daenerys and then the dragons.
The NCU Daenerys is titled Queen of Meereen. During the game, when her opponent makes a Morale Test, she can remove one of her two Order tokens to force them to roll an extra D6 for the test, removing the highest die. This could potentially be the difference between a unit passing easily or losing figures.
The Unit Attachment version of Daenerys is called, appropriately, the Mother of Dragons. She has two abilities on her main card. The first is a negative for the unit. Seeing as they’re escorting such a valuable person into combat, enemies will score an extra 2 Victory Points if they wipe her unit out. Her other ability is whenever the House Targaryen player claims a zone on the Tactics Board, they may replace the normal effect to look through their Tactics deck or discard pile for one of Daenerys’ Tactic cards and add it to their hand.
Her attachment version also has the extra Mother of Dragons game effect, making her the Commander of choice if a player wants to include all 3 dragons to their army. It states that the army must include all three dragons, Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion. That’s a hefty cost in points, but the House Targaryen player does get a little respite as each dragon’s cost is reduced by 2, meaning they’ll only cost 21 points in total.
As for the dragons, they all follow a similar stat block. They have a Speed of 6, letting them quickly get around the battlefield. They also have the Juvenile Dragon ability, which grants them 8 wounds apiece and lets them ignore Morale Tests. They also ignore units and terrain when moving, thanks to their massive, leathery wings. Finally, like Cavalry models, the dragons can all make a free Maneuver action at the start of their Activation. The dragon’s tough scales give them a Defense Save of 4+.
Offensively, the dragons all have a breath weapon that they can use in both melee and as a short-ranged attack. This hellish breath weapon does not roll to hit. It simply does D3+3 automatic Wounds. It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing full plate, dragon fire is going to get to you just the same. The gruesome nature of the attack also imposes Vicious, giving a -2 to subsequent Panic Tests from it. Each breath weapon also imposes a different Condition on another enemy unit within Short range of the one that was attacked, depending on which dragon made the attack. Drogon imposes Panicked. Viserion gives Vulnerable. Rhaegal grants Weakened.
The Mother of Dragons box set will dramatically change the way House Targaryen armies can look on the battlefield. Any time a player chooses to add any form of Daenerys to their army, they can also include the dragons. And if they choose the Mother of Dragons version, they also get all 3 dragons along with her. Opponents will have to find new ways to deal with these terrors of the sky or watch their troops go up in flames.
The Mother of Dragons box set is on sale now. Be sure to check with your FLGS to make sure they have a copy in stock for you.
You can read more about the Mother of Dragons box set here.
