Tournament Battlereport 1. Eroberung der Scheune: Game 1 Hundred Kingdoms vs Spire (english)

Overview
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3

At the end of November, Marco invited us to the tranquil Bedburg to organize the largest German Conquest tournament to date and we had an interesting faction distribution from a North German perspective. In the Lübeck area, the Dinos and the Dweghom are much more present than other factions and some scenarios were randomly determined before the tournament. But before I thought about it, especially since I haven't really felt like playing games with the brave people in the last four weeks, I simply handed in the list from Kelpie Con:

Kelpie Con [2000/2000]
Relentless Drill

 == Warlord Imperial Officer [75]: On Your Feet, Fire First, Aim Later
* Mercenary Crossbowmen 3 [105]:
* Mercenary Crossbowmen 3 [105]:
* Imperial Ranger Corps 3 [120]: 

== Noble Lord [80]: Weapon Master
* Mercenary Crossbowmen 3 [110]: Standard Bearer
* Mercenary Crossbowmen 3 [105]:
* Household Knights 3 [140]: Standard Bearer
* Household Knights 3 [140]: Standard Bearer 

== Warlord Priory Commander Crimson Tower [110]:
* Order of the Crimson Tower 3 [215]: Standard Bearer
* Order of the Crimson Tower 3 [215]: Standard Bearer
* Order of the Ashen Dawn 3 [240]:
* Order of the Ashen Dawn 3 [240]:

Marco also dedicated a beautiful picture to my brave riders. Note the gold armor, purple cloak and the stick.

The list is very good in specific scenarios but very poor in others and the four heavies can be a massive problem if they don't come early. Karl from America said it well: against Spire all the Lights simply die and with bad luck the rest only come in round 4-5. This happened to me and also to the other two Hundred Kingdoms players who had similar lists and the two players with the 5 block and stable mediums all played 2:1 for a reason. Maybe I'll steal a list from there too.

In addition to the German T3, you can also find all the data on Longshanks. Most of the lists are there and they were sent to all participants a week before the tournament. All in all, I would say that you can see a lot of the Bremen influence in the lists, or maybe I want to see it too. I would hardly describe any list as "bad" - my favorites were definitely Hickmix and Redbeard with their Spire scum lists and Nino with the best that OD has to offer. The rest were welcome to come as opponents, although they preferred Forlorn Hope and Grind them Down.

Game 1 against Redbeard on Echolon
My team told me that I was allowed to play in Game 1 against Redbeard and I must have lost it all. Long NTR 1 and one of the best German Spire players and my list only likes Echolon to a limited extent. That's all, but it's not optimal and his list is still useful:

== Warlord Lineage Highborne [140]: Cascading Degeneration, Command Pheromones, Pheromantic Override, Attracting Pheromones
* Avatara 3 [180]: Superior Creations
* Avatara 3 [180]: Superior Creations
* Incarnate Sentinels 5 [350]:
* Centaur Avatara 3 [200]: Standard Bearer 

== High Clone Executor [175]: Biotic Hive, Infiltrator Variant, Adaptive Evolution, Disperse, Tactical 1, Additional Neural Receptors
* Vanguard Clone Infiltrators 3 [170]:
* Force-Grown Drones 3 [90]: 

== Pheromancer [120]: Avatar Projection, Plaguelord
* Stryx 3 [120]:
* Stryx 3 [120]:
* Brute Drones 3 [150]:

My advantage was that I currently play more games per week than Redbeard did in the last six months since the new drone was created. He knew that too and we talked for a while since we hadn't met for a long time and then he revealed his Spire shirt and the battle for Bedburg's barn began!

On round 1 everything appears automatically for him and for me only two Crossbows and a Regiment of Rangers appear automatically. Redbeard stays out of my range and I stay out of the Stryx's range. My goal was to destroy the marker on the left as quickly as possible, play hedgehog in my zone and wait for the Ashen Dawn. He recognized that too and in round 2 he came up with Brute Drones and once Avatara and for me the last Crossbows and both riders. So I had more cards than him and he had to start, which meant that I lost a regiment of Crossbows to the VCI, was able to get the object, the zone and still had activations free to shoot Stryx if they went into me. At some point they did so on the left flank and shortly afterwards the second riders marched up there. 5:2

Round 3 I rolled an extra Heavy and had two Ashen Dawn while Redbeard got everything thanks to Flank. It started out boring when I first killed a few Stryx in the Crossbows with the Household Knights and his other Stryx tried the move Charge on the 3 to keep me unfavorable. I had expected this and planned accordingly, but Redbeard rolled a 1 and ruined both of our plans. Since this regiment was now completely in his way and blocking all lines of sight for the VCI, I decided to shoot the Force Grown Drones and continue playing for time. The longer it lasts, the better it is for me. His large Incarnates block appeared on my right side and I placed a unit of Ashen Dawn there and in the middle. If I did this skillfully, they should be able to sort this out without much help from the Crimson Tower. Before that, his avatars did two more damage to his lens and the others lived nicely in his zone: 7:4

Round 4 for me a unit of Crimson Tower arrives, Redbeard is happy and keeps reminding himself that another one is coming. But first comes the important thing for him and his Stryx announces a charge. I ask if they'll do the Move Charge for the safe route and Redbeard just shakes his head. Of course he rolls a one. So I won another round on the flank, but they are now in my way too and I decided to tackle the problem with Ashen Dawn when his infiltrators couldn't do anything again. Move Charge and Stryx as well as Ashen Dawn get three damage... Not quite as planned, but I have more options, a few Crossbows going forward, Rangers wanting to easily lure the Centaur Avatara to get them within comfortable range of the Crossbows, etc. It So nothing happens except positional play and I forget that the Incarnates can get an extra move once in the game. This means that those before the Ashen Dawn activation come into close combat with the Ashen Dawn in my zone. Only with Move Charge, but they have Aura of Dead and I immediately lose 10 life to it and flinch slightly. Buoyed by the success, the Centauar Avatara also arrive, failing to kill the rangers with Move Charge, and I'm forced to place my Crimson Tower right behind them and hope I get started. So just two wide and fire Supremacy next round so that I can survive somehow. Thanks to the one surviving Household Knight I manage to deny my zone and he destroys his marker. So we just go to 7:9

Turn 5 Supremacy from the Commander, he starts of course and the Centaurs break through into my Crimson Tower. Deal damage to those who use Combat Reform, go wide and only do 4 damage. Not enough, but I have a plan and it's a good one. All I have to do is wait a bit and his Incarnates will happily kill the Ashen Dawn in front of him and his Brute Drones will go into the flank of my second Ashen Dawn without a pheromancer. He went into the avatar before and thanks to Blessed, not much happened. Then the Ashen Dawn strike and actually manage to kill two Stands Stryx. Yeah! I also lose two stands and somehow I don't like the exchange at all.
So open the bag of tricks, Noble Lord uses Seek new Escort and Crossbows shoot the Centaur in the flank, my Household Knight kills a Brute Drone in Charge and the last knight of Unit 1 makes the long way to the lens in the corner. Christians then realizes that he had forgotten about the second Crimson Tower when they suddenly appear in front of him. Of course only after Crossbows have tied them nicely in the flank. So he scores both zones, but I can't get the force block dead otherwise. He has to kill the crossbows and can then use Charge to save himself into a regiment or position himself so that I can't get to his flank, but he gets a charge and that will hurt. 7:15

Turn 6 he starts, does things that aren't Incarnates and 3 Crimson Towers with Commander go into the Incarnates' flank. Thanks to the Ashen Dawn's preparatory work, they die right on the spot and if the Ashen Dawn/Household Knights last two rounds, I'll simply win through the riders. Of course the Ashen Dawn with 5 health dies from the melee attacks of the one Stryx Stand, but otherwise it goes like clockwork. Christian tries to shoot the Crimson in the back with the VCI, but has to get close to do so. They lose a pony and my lord jumps to the next regiment and the Household Knight makes Move Charge the objective. 9:17

Round 7 he doesn't shoot the Noble Lord and he jumps first into the crossbows on the far right so that I can score points in my zone. The Commander then jumps into the second Crimson Tower and both rotate. What then happens are two devastating Move Charges that cost the VCI and Brute Drones and in rounds 8 and 9 I hold both zones and destroy his lens at the back right. We rushed through the last 4 laps in 30 minutes and that's why the photos became fewer and fewer. Plus, I had to think so much that I often forgot them. 26:19 Final score and the first game of the tournament completed and also my hellish matchup.