Cavalry Charge of the Hundred Kingdoms: Canadian Horse Lord

Update Sealed Temple 06.03.2024

The most common question about the Hundred Kingdoms is: I want to play a pure cavalry list, what is worth considering? Since I see this question repeatedly on Discord and provide corresponding answers, I have written a brief summary here, hoping that it will help some players. I draw inspiration from the successful list by Maas from Canada featured on Bonktable. You can find several game reports for this list on his YouTube Channel.

Canadin Horse Lord [2000/2000]
The Hundred Kingdoms
Veterans

== (Warlord) Mounted Noble Lord [180]: Olefant's Roar, Weapon Master, Tip of the Lance
Mounted Squires (3) [135]: Standard Bearer
Mounted Squires (3) [155]: Veterans, +1 Clash, Standard Bearer, Count Palatine
Household Knights (5) [310]: Veterans, +1 Clash, Standard Bearer, Tourney Champion
Household Knights (3) [140]: Standard Bearer

== (Warlord) Priory Commander (Crimson Tower) [120]: Disorienting Strikes

Order of the Crimson Tower (3) [215]: Standard Bearer
Order of the Crimson Tower (3) [215]: Standard Bearer
Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [265]: Standard Bearer
Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [265]: Standard Bearer

General Tactics:

• Exploit mobility: Your cavalry units, especially the Household Knights and the Mounted Squires, have a high threat range. Use this to impose your game on the opponent. You can easily switch flanks if it becomes too dangerous for them.
• Stability only in the front: If you have to break through the center, do it with Ashen Dawn. They are very stable and can serve as an anchor or firefighting unit. While D4 (usually with shields) makes the entire army quite stable, flank attacks quickly eliminate most regiments from you.
• Anticipate enemy movements: Keep an eye on your opponent's movements. Move Charge is also a useful option for your teammates, if only to deny the charge. Your units disproportionately benefit from the charge, and impacts are often crucial for reasonable damage.
• Evaluate risks: When securing zones, it's important to weigh risks. Often, opponents try to lure individual cavalry regiments to counter and eliminate them. Therefore, calculate in advance how much damage you are likely to inflict and who can still charge you. It's often better to attack already activated regiments because they block the opponent's movement (provided you leave them standing, of course!).
• Activation disadvantage: This list has 10 cards but four Heavy regiments. Since regiments come onto the battlefield at different times depending on their class, there can be problems with the scenario. Our Heavies arrive at the earliest in Round 3 but only on 1-2. With some bad luck, a Heavy regiment might only enter the battlefield in Round 5, thus actively participating in the game from Rounds 6-7 onwards. Keep this in mind when planning.
• Simultaneous Engagement: Try to initiate/conduct two relevant battles simultaneously. This way, it won't be as bad if you don't start the round. It also forces the opponent to make a choice when constructing their deck.
• Priority of Regiment Activation: If a regiment is eliminated before being activated, and you have a second one of the same type in the stack, you must activate the second one as soon as it is drawn. Plan for this and generally assume that you won't start the round.

Use of the Mounted Noble Lord:

• The Mounted Noble Lord with Olefant's Roar, Weapon Master, and Tip of the Lance is a strong supporter and an excellent leader. Due to his Supremacy, an absurd number of hits are generated when he is in the 5-strong block Household Knights. Use his abilities to break through enemy units and attack weak points.
• If you want to save points, Tip of the Lance and Olefant's Roar are good choices.

Use of the Mounted Squires:

• Mounted Squires are fast units. Use their mobility to exert pressure on the opponent and take advantageous positions, but don't throw them away carelessly. Often, in Rounds 4 or 5, they can secure a charge into a flank.
• Use Squires as living shields to protect the expensive cavalry and try to merge them with the protected regiment in the deck. Always place the Squires over the other cavalry so that you can detach from the opponent if necessary and create space.
• The Standard Bearer and Count Palatine in the Mounted Squire units provide additional support and enhance the unit's combat power, but it's not mandatory. If you want to save points, this is an option.

Support from the Household Knights:

• The small Household Knights serve only to score zones since this list has few other options for that purpose. Don't just throw them away.
• The 5 Knights create an impressive presence on the battlefield, and thus, they quickly become a target. Use the large block to put pressure on your opponent's flanks. Even without the Noble Lord, the regiment threatens with a Move Charge of 16" + 1d6, with 20 impacts on 3s, and can reroll 6s for that. This breaks most MSU (Multiple Small Unit) stands with Brutal Impact 1.
• Due to the 9" charge range, the large block can also focus on the Charge Clash. If you do this, ideally do it with Noble Lord in the regiment and 4 wide. This way, the regiment is just about reasonable to pivot and brings 23 attacks in the Clash. With the impacts and bonuses from Wedge and Olefant's Roar, this is absurdly high damage.

Priory Commander and the Orders:

• Ashen Dawn benefit from the Terrifying of the Priory Commander when he is in the regiment and in contact with the enemy regiment. Remember that you must determine in which regiment the Commander starts before the game begins. This also makes sense in Crimson Tower.
• The Order of the Crimson Tower and Order of the Ashen Dawn benefit in different ways from the Supremacy of the Commander. The Crimson Tower receives blessed and can use this in defense or for impacts. This suddenly makes Crimson Tower useful and gives them a significant threat potential with Move Charge. For Ashen Dawn, it's almost always worth choosing Hardened 1 because it makes them significantly tougher. The extra attack, on the other hand, is rarely useful.
• Since we play with four Heavies, it can quickly become tight. As the first Heavy regiment, you should always choose an Ashen Dawn regiment. These are usually stable enough to act as an anchor. In doubt, they can hold a flank alone for a round.

Variant with Order of the Sealed Temple

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===

Canadin Horse Lord Update Feb. 2024 [1995/2000]
The Hundred Kingdoms
Veterans

== (Warlord) Mounted Noble Lord [170]: Olefant's Roar, Weapon Master, Eccentric Fighting Style
 * Mounted Squires (3) [155]: Veterans, +1 Clash, Standard Bearer, Count Palatine
 * Household Knights (5) [310]: Veterans, +1 Clash, Standard Bearer, Tourney Champion
 * Household Knights (3) [140]: Standard Bearer
 * Mounted Squires (3) [135]: Standard Bearer

== (Warlord) Priory Commander (Sealed Temple) [145]: Tip of the Lance
 * Order of the Sealed Temple (3) [205]: Standard Bearer
 * Order of the Sealed Temple (3) [205]: Standard Bearer
 * Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [265]: Standard Bearer
 * Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [265]: Standard Bearer

• With Movement 8 and Fluid Formation, the Sealed Temple have the ability to threaten almost anything early on and are flexible in their positioning. Fluid Formation typically increases charge range by at least 2.5", allowing them to hide behind terrain features like forests to protect themselves from ranged attacks and charges. This is achieved by placing a foot in or on the terrain feature during their own activation, thereby drawing a line of sight. This allows for partially secure charges and absurdly long charge options that simply overwhelm most regiments with a range of D3 or worse. The fact that we have a D4 R4 unit ourselves makes the Sealed Temple a viable alternative to the Crimson Towers. Additionally, being Medium, they are currently the preferred Order Mainstay.
  
• By swapping the Crimson Tower for Sealed Temple, our army is safely fully deployed on the field by Round 4, and we likely already have several riders by Round 2. This is a significant advantage that should not be underestimated. Furthermore, this change saves us 20 points. In this case, there are several sensible adjustments that could be made. First, Disordering Strikes should be removed, and then the currently popular combination, Tip of the Lance, can be placed on the Commander of the Sealed Temple. This suddenly makes them a threat even to well-armored regiments. For the remaining points, the Noble Lord can be given the Eccentric Fighting Style. These rerolls also apply to attacks, although this is rarely of interest.