Hi everyone,
On February 21st, the ITC took place again in France, and as defending champions, we once more set off on the long drive to Paris. The event was held again in a bright, spacious community hall in Bezons. This time, significantly more teams were present, though theoretically, room could have been made for another 10 teams.
Before we were allowed to tour the hall, the ten of us had to get settled in the car and at the hotel, where we immediately met the Spaniards around Vincent (Lord Kragan). I was very happy about that, since we had played and spent the evenings together last time. Together with the Spaniards, we then picked up the other two German teams and went to an Italian restaurant. Refreshed and motivated, we headed to the venue, where a bit of beer had been provided, and, as last year’s winners, we were presented with stylish aprons featuring a target symbol.
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The atmosphere was great, and I was very happy to see many familiar faces as well as meet new people. For example, the Slovenians, with whom we later hung out at the bar, where several 2.5-liter beer towers were ordered. Well, it was an evening full of fun, beer, and relaxed conversation. A few of the photos are even suitable for the blog:
Our Tournament Planning & Lists
Since it’s a team tournament, we spent a lot of time thinking about our lists beforehand. While Nino quickly decided on Xhiliarch with Theocrator, Tjade and I took a bit longer to make up our minds. Tjade’s decision came when the Dweghom Sorcerer Warlord with the Spire Rework gained the ability to cast over Automata – that was exactly the point that made her choose this list.
I initially wanted to play W'adrhŭn Speaker myself, but after dozens of test games, the mismatches became increasingly frustrating. The theoretical possibilities that Dweghom currently offers felt uncomfortable, especially since I expected a massive Dweghom presence. Sorcerer Kings Chandavats, on the other hand, perform very well against Dweghom. Apparently, many others thought the same, because in total there were seven players with Sorcerer Kings and 20 birds on the battlefield. The tables in the hall on both days almost looked like a scene from Hitchcock’s The Birds.
Nino’s Army List
Kalliarch & Thomas The Tank [2000/2000]
* Centaur Prodromoi (3) [150]:
* Athanatoi (3) [170]:
* Athanatoi (3) [170]:
* Legionnaires (3) [115]: Optio
* Cultists (3) [90]
* Moroi (3) [180]
* Moroi (3) [180]
Einer der gängigen Old Dominion-Builds in Deutschland. Quasi keine Missmatches, stark im Szenario und sehr stabil.
Tjade’s Army List (aka Uziel)
Dweghom Caster [2000/2000]
* Fireforged (3) [160]:
* Stoneforged (1) [230]:
* Hold Warriors (3) [150]: Mnemancer's Apprentice
* Fireforged (3) [160]:
* Steelforged (3) [210]:
* Steelforged (3) [210]:
The classic D4 spam with the Sorcerer Warlord. Not quite as stable as double Stoneforged with Steelshaper, but with the potential to turn round 2 into a full-table co-roscation.
My Army List
Most Sorcerer Kings players ran double Dhanur. I deliberately chose Emanuel’s 11-card variant without Dhanur. The list has two very bad matchups and a somewhat tricky reinforcement curve due to the few cards, but in return, it’s one of the most stable in the game. Played cleanly, it wins every attrition match that isn’t against Yoroni or extremely early rushes. The latter is practically nonexistent in the current meta, and against Yoroni you have to make adjustments anyway.
Why is this setup so stable? The birds are practically immune to magic and shooting, and they can even defend very well in close combat. That’s the only area where they are genuinely vulnerable, but even there, their profile makes them extremely resilient. Placing a water marker in front of them gives opponents –1 to hit, and the birds survive without issue. You can even place the water marker in front of Mahut with Dread, effectively making him untouchable. Overall, this is one of the four most annoying builds you can currently field, and I personally don’t enjoy playing it much. On a team tournament, however, the list generates very few mismatches and is strategically very valuable, even if it doesn’t win you many new friends.
Game 1: Ludocaine on Divide and Conquer
In the first game, we faced a French team, in France no less, how unusual.
The lists of our first opponents were: Nords Giant Spam, Old Dominion Archi Warlord with Theocrator, and Dweghom Sorcerer Warlord with three Automata and double Hellbringer.
My teammates looked very unhappy about the Dweghom. Apart from me, no one wanted to face it. The list would probably perform just as well in a mirror match as against the Old Dominion, but we could not choose individual matchups directly. Instead, we had to assign a player, and our opponents would counter-assign, and we did the same. In the end, this left two players to face each other.
Initially, we placed the Dweghom and Team Ludocaine placed the Nords. Perfect, this meant Nino would face the Nords matchup, and Tjade would likely get the mirror. However, Ludocaine decided to give Tjade the Old Dominion, which left me to face Nyckeau with his Dweghom.
* Inferno Automata (3) [170]:
* Stoneforged (1) [230]:
* Steelforged (3) [210]:
* Inferno Automata (3) [170]:
* Fireforged (3) [160]:
* Fireforged (3) [160]:
My opponent Nyckeau even spoke German, which was very convenient for me, given that I was in a somewhat questionable state. When I looked more closely at his list, I immediately understood why I had not come to the tournament with Speaker W'adrhŭn. Three Automata that could be used as Arc Nodes and from which the Dweghom mages could cast made the list quite unpleasant. On top of that, there was double Hellbringer and Fireforged.
The list was very good at applying pressure over range with magic and shooting, and I was very good at simply ignoring it stoically. Nyckeau had ended up in the perfect mismatch, and the chance that he would kill all three of my birds was close to zero. He knew that too.
The key was not to advance too far in the first few rounds. So I held back with the Ghols and tried to make him overextend, ideally straight into the Chandavats. When I finally sent one of the birds against him, he immediately attempted a charge but failed. Another regiment went with a move charge on the bird, and the Sorcerers with the Ghols killed two of the Automata. The remaining Automata attacked my five Wind Maidens and were destroyed by the Maharajah and the second bird that entered the game.
The Lightning Bolts made standing near the birds more than just unpleasant. By the third round, I had almost everything under control except for one Wind Maiden, and Nyckeau had lost a Hellbringer. I placed a water marker in the right zone, which prevented Nyckeau from moving his Warlord into the water and thus into the zone. He positioned himself in the left zone with the other mage, which later allowed one of my birds, together with the block of Wind Maidens, to kill him, and I took the lead.
In the following rounds, my block destroyed everything on the left flank and later moved to Nyckeau’s edge to take out a Hellbringer from behind. Among the Sorcerer Kings, there is a spell that allows a unit to continue reforming, which significantly extends the charge of such a large block. This even drew a frown from Para Bellum at the tournament.
On the other flank, Mahut and the Stoneforge were now facing each other, while more Wind Maidens advanced on the flank. We both scored points, and a round later, a bird, Mahut, and the Wind Maidens attacked the zone, together with the Stoneforge and the last Hellbringer.
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It took a few turns, I lost one bird and had to bring another forward, but in the end I emerged victorious thanks to the water marker and Dread in the big melee. Mahut devoured a Stoneforge in the process, marking its first achievement of the tournament. After bringing me nothing but shame in Lübeck at the start of 2025, it had been trying since the last Lübeck tournament to make up for its past misbehavior with all its might. And “might” was the word here. By now it was rampaging through my enemies like a berserker, screaming for blood and violence. Which is relatively easy when the opponent you are in close combat with has –2 to hit.
I won as expected, 70 to 5, and both Nino and Tjade also secured their games for us, giving us a much better and more relaxed start to the tournament than in 2025.
Game 2: Equipo Ebro on Bulwark
Game number two was against one of the favorites, the Spaniards around Vincent. They also brought Dweghom and Sorcerer Kings. We initially placed Tjade, while Team Ebro also placed the Dweghom. We had actually wanted me to face the Dweghom, but we absolutely did not want to pair Nino against the Sorcerer Kings. In the end, he got the Dweghom, and I mentally prepared myself for the first mirror match.
Instead, I got to play against Vincent again, which made me very happy. Bulwark was not optimal for my list, but I had practiced this scenario several times and knew that the Nords could not score enough points. In attrition, I would probably clear his army off the table by round six and still win if I held both zones. Of course, it would be even better if something prevented him from scoring at all.
Additionally, there was again a water terrain piece exactly in the center of the table. This was basically another ten percent power boost for my list. Honestly, I would only feel more ashamed at the table if I were playing an Xhiliarch or three to four Yoroni spiders instead of the three Chandavats.
Lord Kragan/Vicent Bonet YBDC8 [1995/2000]
== Blooded [130]: Coils of the Serpent
* Stalkers (3) [130]:
* Stalkers (3) [130]:
* Trolls (5) [300]:
== Vargyr Lord [140]: Figurehead of the Naglfar
* Goltr Beastpack (3) [160]:
* Goltr Beastpack (3) [160]:
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
== Jarl [125]: Ty Jokull, the Rimeheart
* Ulfhednar (3) [200]: Savage
* Sea Jotnar (1) [240]:
Vincent’s list practically did not roll for reinforcements, which honestly made me uncomfortable. For that reason, I initially stayed more defensive and wanted to wait. Something I could do, but didn’t enjoy. At first, we both had our two Light regiments on the field. I placed mine in the center, while he placed one Stalker regiment on the left and one also in the center.
In the next round, I received a bird and both Wind Maidens. That was good, but still not enough to really challenge his superiority. For deckbuilding, it hardly mattered, but at least it was enough to complete both rituals.
In round three, I then got everything. That was, of course, excellent. Even better was that I had one more card and Vincent had to go first. The central objective went to him first, while the left one took some damage. I brought my Mahut onto the right side of the field and tried to remain patient, dealing a little damage to the pigs in the water with the Sorcerer, which killed one of them.
Then the left Goltr moved within nine inches of the left Chandavat. I paused briefly to consider how to respond, especially since I would be activating one of the Chandavats next. In the end, I decided to charge to block the Fenr. After that came a spell, but the pigs only took two damage.
The Fenr, which had intended to charge the marker, could no longer do so because the pigs were in the way and engaged. They were awkwardly repositioned into the zone while I placed a water marker in front. Then Spiteful Winds hit the Goltr on the Chandavat, and the first pig was removed from play. Shortly afterward, the second bird came over the edge and also cast on the pigs, taking the second one out and breaking the unit. In other words, it was now clear that the Chandavat in contact would definitely survive.
This motivated me enough to attempt a risky reform charge against the trolls with the Steelheart. It wasn’t very clever, but I saw the chance to avoid letting the game turn into a long attrition battle. The Wind Maidens took out three stands of trolls, but this opened their flank to the Fenr and Stalker. Thanks to the water, however, I was confident I could hold. Vincent scored points alone in the right zone, and we moved into round four.
I got to go first and killed the trolls as well as a Fenr. In the counterattack, the Wind Maidens lost one stand. This gave the Stalker space to act without having to charge into the water, and unfortunately they wiped out my regiment over the next two rounds. That was annoying, but by now the two Chandavats were dominating the flank. Together with Spiteful Winds, they took out Vincent’s regiments one by one and eventually secured the zone for me.
On the other side, things looked a bit less favorable. There, my second group of Wind Maidens initially fell to the Ulfhednar.
When even Mahut with Impacts and Trample only dealt a single point of damage to the objective, I was slightly annoyed. The gray trunked beast apparently sought absolution, but I was definitely not going to grant it. So I sent another Chandavat into the zone, directly into close combat with the Sea Jotnar.
In round six, Vincent went first. The Sea Jotnar pounded on the Chandavat, which survived thanks to Loose Formation. Then came Spiteful Winds, followed by the Chandavat with three actions, enough to kill the Sea Jotnar. Vincent then tried to take down Mahut with the Ulfhednar, but it simply stood there, took the marker, and slowly devoured the Ulfhednar.
I won the game 40 to 11. Nino also won against the Dweghom, using his Moroi to trap a few dwarves between two buildings. Tjade, on the other hand, lost the expected mismatch against the Sorcerer Kings. But it was a team tournament, and the goal was not for everyone to win their individual games, but for the team to score more victories than the opposing team. This also means that in the pairing, someone has to take a rather unpleasant matchup for the team so that the other two get better games. In short: one eats the salad so the others can have the steak.
Game 3: Inglorious Basterds on Head to Head
In game three, we faced the next favorites: Gwen, Kilian, and Baldaxe. I didn’t know the latter, but his Sorcerer Kings list was very similar to mine.
We decided to pair me first, and France 1, as we had internally named them, placed Gwen with Old Dominion. This confused us about as much as it confused them that I was paired first. Nino thought the OD mirror was manageable, and we hoped I would play against Kilian. Later, Gwen told me that he had preferred to “sacrifice” Baldaxe to me, as he was sure Kilian would seek bloody revenge on Tjade for last year and also felt confident about handling the OD mirror himself.
[ITC] Parisian Pigeons [2000/2000]
* Ghols (3) [110]: Court of Air
* Ghols (3) [110]: Court of Water
* Dhanur Disciples (3) [140]:
* Mahabharati Initiates (3) [160]:
* Trinavarta Chandavat (1) [240]:
== Raj [130]: Prijm Khanjar, Court of Air
* Steelheart Djinn (3) [170]:
* Ghols (3) [110]: Court of Air
* Trinavarta Chandavat (1) [240]:
== Sorcerer [90]: Wizard (7), Court of Air
* Dhanur Disciples (3) [140]:
* Trinavarta Chandavat (1) [240]:
A similar list to mine, just without Mahut, but with two additional cards and therefore two more active regiments than I had. The Chandavats were hard to kill in a mirror match, but they could barely deal any damage themselves. This worried me a bit, especially for my Mahut. I had tested against a similar list and knew exactly what the Dhanur, together with two birds and my Mahut, could do. At the same time, I had my big block, which could clean up well, and we were playing Head to Head. So no splitting, and more cards meant more points for the opponent. Still, I was cautious because I didn’t know Bladaxe, and he was in Kilian and Gwen’s team, so he was probably pretty good.
In the first two rounds, we made sure that our regiments didn’t stand too close together. Bladaxe played very precisely, making it difficult for me to use Spiteful Winds effectively. I wanted to overload the large zone and pushed two Chandavats directly there, knowing that my Mahut, or the Maharajah, could heal one of my birds.
I was very pleased that Bladaxe chose the Dhanur first. I don’t particularly like Dhanur and usually have to handle them alone, so I’d like to explain why. Normally, you want them early so they can do their work, but as the first pick of the round, there are often more attractive options, like the Chandavats. Especially since they can move into zones and the Dhanur cannot, and from there they can apply further pressure. If the Dhanur don’t come early, they mostly become somewhat obsolete. For example, Wind Maidens with halberds are still strong in round four, especially if they come from the flank and are directly in auto-charge range of the opponent. I see the Dhanur more as playing a support role.
In round three, we both got lucky and practically drew the rest of the deck. For deckbuilding, I had decided to attack the Ghols aggressively early. Spiteful Winds was annoying, but I couldn’t really defend against it anyway. I mainly hoped that he would prefer to sit on his card advantage and wouldn’t be able to strike back effectively. My mages moved forward and cast on the Ghols. The Chandavats also helped successfully thin out the Ghols and Mahabharati Initiates, and in the counterattack almost nothing happened, except he didn’t place a mage within 10 inches in time, which could have slightly ruined my Interference plan.
Then Mahut entered the battlefield on the left to heal a few wounds and, starting next round, hopefully hold the zone for three rounds or more. In this round, the task still fell to the Chandavats.
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In the following round, I got to go first due to having fewer cards and eliminated more Ghols. On the left flank, there were now two Chandavats, the Mahabharati Initiates, and a regiment of Dhanur facing my three Chandavats and Mahut. I sent one Chandavat over the building to clear the backfield, which was actually hardly necessary, as Mahut seemed to have internalized the lesson from the last game about shame, duty, and redemption. Round after round, he tore through the birds, supported by a few Ghols and two birds, but every killing blow came from him. Proudly, Mahut presented me with the skulls and wings of two slain Chandavats. I had lost one bird in the whole melee, but in return, the entire flank was wiped out.
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On the right side and in the center, his third Chandavat, along with Ghols, hunted down my Sorcerers. They resisted minimally and then, as expected, died quickly. My large block of Wind Maidens, on the other hand, remained passive and regularly moved out of the water marker, which was slowly advancing. His situation was similar, except he had a MSU Wind Maiden unit with Raj and Dhanur plus a Sorcerer. I also positioned my MSU Wind Maidens on the right flank and intended to send them through the building. However, since I had won on the left flank, he executed a move charge into my Steelheart with his unit to force the next initiative.
I won the initiative, eliminated the block, and went hunting for the last Chandavat. As expected, the girls failed against it.
That didn’t matter, because Sir Birdfright himself arrived and eventually took out the third bird. This secured me the special prize for killing three birds and a small, cute trophy.
My teammates were less fortunate. Tjade paired herself and was defeated by Kilian. Nino played too greedily instead of conservatively, and a classic “no one else sees this” moment against an experienced opponent became his downfall. As a result, we lost this round 1–2.
Afterwards, we went with all the tournament participants to an Asian restaurant. According to Guillaume, I had ordered the most French-Asian dish possible.
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Game 4: Madness on Foresight
In the final game, we faced another German team: Maphi, Felix, and Carsten from the Stuttgart area. We knew them well, and there are already a few game reports against them on this blog. They also had, with Felix, probably the most active southern German player, who brought a Dweghom Ancestor Warlord list to the table. He had previously defeated Kremencek’s Spire with exactly that list. That was reason enough for us to be a bit more cautious. But Maphi’s W’adrhŭn and Carsten’s City States were far from harmless, and on Foresight, stupid things are known to happen.
The pairings were quickly decided. Tjade got to dance with Maphi, Nino faced Felix, and after ages, I once again had the pleasure of playing against Carsten.
T2 [2000/2000]
== Polemarch [130]: Atalanta's Spear, Disorienting Strikes
* Thorakites (4) [195]: Minotaur Thyrean Auxiliary, Andromachos
== Aristarch [90]:
* Phalangites (5) [255]: Sacred Band Veterans Auxiliary, Dorilates
* Selinoi (3) [120]:
* Selinoi (3) [120]:
* War Chariots (2) [260]: Skorpios(2)
== (Warlord) Polemarch [165]: Army of Lions, Blades of Eakides, Inscription of Lighter Alloys
* Hoplites (5) [235]: Minotaur Haspist Auxiliary, Dorilates
* Minotaur Thyreans (3) [190]:
== Ipparchos [100]:
* Companion Cavalry (3) [140]:
Carsten mentioned at the start that he hadn’t played against Sorcerer Kings in ages, practically since the last nerf. So I gave him a brief rundown of what was about to happen. Then he looked at the water terrain in the middle, which, by chance, also held the only zone on Foresight where you could score somewhat safely. We set up our armies, moved into the zones, and because Foresight is Foresight, it was immediately 4–0 in my favor. Carsten then carefully read through the scenario again, studying that water field in particular for a long time.
By round three, almost all units were finally on the table. I barely moved, while Carsten cautiously pulled back on my right side from the zone, fearing my block might suddenly jump in and cause chaos. I stayed relaxed, waited, and meanwhile took out two ponies. His Thorakites jumped into my Wind Maidens, and I realized: next round, Polemarch Supremacy would arrive.
With the Supremacy, he cleared the Wind Maidens, and my Mahut immediately took a few riders in the face, endured it stoically, healed itself, and then looked very satisfied as it tore through and devoured all the riders. The Ghols jumped onto the Thorakites from behind, and overall, we continued to move surprisingly little.
Carsten now scored points from the scenario for the first time and praised my tactical understanding of the scenario. I honestly told him that I simply roll for it every round and just trust my luck. The mix of shock and confusion on his face was fantastic. From the neighboring table, Nino remarked that I had almost certainly made a pact with some old god, which didn’t seem surprising given the results. When I looked over, however, I saw a cheerful Felix, whose army was deep in Nino’s deployment zone and who was clearly leading. Typical Foresight.
Motivated by this, Carsten sent his two-handed cows straight at my Mahut, and I swallowed. The elephant apparently remembered the consequences of failure, stood firm, and then simply ate all the cows. 21 hit points plus Teneacois 1, gone. Afterwards, Mahut looked at me hopefully, but there was no forgiveness yet, only grim satisfaction on my part. So in the next round, he also devoured the Thorakites and received a loving pat for it
On the other flank, I was briefly less clever. After a Chandavat and a Spiteful Winds cleared the last Selinoi, I pulled back with the Chandavat far enough that nothing could charge it. So he advanced the Phalangites and gave me the option of a charge clash with the five Wind Maidens and the Maharajah, which I, of course, greedily accepted. Somehow, he had forgotten the Hoplites and the Mobility Draw event, so I swapped half of my Wind Maidens for half of the Phalangites.
At least the remaining Phalangites were then killed by one of the Chandavats, so the last battle was just between the Steelheart and the Hoplites, right?
No, of course the Maharajah accepted the duel against the Polemarch and died honorably. Afterwards, Spiteful Winds and the Chandavats turned the Hoplites and the last remaining chariot wandering around into minced meat.
Meanwhile, Nino somehow fought his way back into the game and ultimately defeated Felix, probably with the help of Xhiliarch Supremacy. Tjade, meanwhile, demonstrated that with ten dice you can simply roll a lot of fives and sixes, something that has been proven not to work for him in 40k. As a result, Maphi strolled rather unbothered through the Dweghom magic, and Tjade’s regiments had a rather unpleasant and unhealthy encounter with two Cleave 3 Deadly Apexes. After the Sorcerer Warlord and the dice failed Tjade for the third tournament in a row, he decided to buy new dice. In the end, the round finished 2–1 in our favor, securing the victory.
At the final table, the French team from our third game defeated a Spanish team and became the ITC winners. With a 3–1 record, we still had a chance for the podium, and since our SoS was the highest in the tournament, we ended up in second place.
We again felt incredibly welcome this year and always enjoy coming to France to visit our friends there. I especially thought the aprons were very cute, and if all goes well, this certainly won’t be the last time we endure the ten-hour drive.
Finally, I just want to say thank you. To the organizers for a wonderfully run event, to our opponents for entertaining games, and to all the people at the tournament who make weekends like this what they are. It is exactly this mix of good games, long conversations, and shared evenings that makes these tournaments so appealing to me.