A lush, rich faction west of the mid-upper Crownlands. It is ruled by Lord Mace Tyrell and forwards the line of the Tyrell family as being the likely successor for the Reach for many more generations to come. The city-capital is Highgarden.
Gameplay
The Reach is situated quite close to The Stormlands settled directly north of it, bordering many other factions to boast. On the default map the Reach can be recognized by it's fitting green color.
Early in the game the Reach will cooperate with the Stormlands against The Westerlands and Dragonstone. The Reach has a fairly large gaggle of Lords as well as fairly large armies, leaving them to rather quickly take the front of the battles against the Westerlands. By early game villages around Lannisport will begin to meet flame, a consequence of war against the Reach. Although the Reach has a large force to boast with the assistance of King Renly Baratheon, there is currently no agreement story-wise should King Renly Baratheon fall as consequence to assassination or any other means. This leaves the Reach to be constantly fighting even after all hope is lost for them, whereas other factions are more likely to come across an agreement story-wise, derived from scenarios that would have a major affect on the plot.
Reach armies are interesting. Their soldiers tend to be very well-armored and they have a very strong mounted component (the only thing scarier than seeing a couched lance coming at you is a horseman with a halberd coming at you, and the Reach has both). If you want spearmen, especially pikemen, the Reach is your faction of choice, as they have not one but three tiers of pikemen. However, they lack two things that most of the other Westeros factions have: men-at-arms and good archers. This means that while the Reach can absorb arrows all day long, it also means that good close-combat infantry, especially shock infantry, will tear Reach infantry to shreds as spears/pikes are not that good against infantry. Be warned about this; I've seen new players be very impressed by their glittering Reach army, only to see their main line crumble when charged by Vanguard or halberdiers.
This focus on heavy cavalry and pikemen means that forces from the Reach are an excellent partner for their in-game ally: the Stormlands. Unlike the Reach, the Stormlands has no spearmen and almost no heavy cavalry; however, their close-combat infantry is second to none, and a Stormlands main battle line does not easily break. Armies composed of troops from the two, with Stormlands Hammermen and men-at-arms forming the core of a battle line, with Reach knights on the wings and pikemen in front to absorb both arrows and the initial cavalry charge, will carry almost any field battle against balanced armies.
Story
The Reach has long been the primary agricultural land in the Seven Kingdoms, allowing it to grow to much power and influence using the wealth gained. Traditionally ruled by House Tyrell since to coming of Aegon the Conqueror.