Battlereport brave humans against resistant Nords

It's time for a game report again, and this time I'll take you to the battlefield where my brave forces clash with the resilient Nords of Uziel. But before we delve into the details, I'd like to share a little anecdote with you that explains the origins of the lack of reports on skirmishes between our armies.

Recently, attentive blog readers pointed out that there are fewer reports of clashes between my brave army and Uziel's armies. "Why?" Well, we often deploy new list concepts against each other, and the result is sometimes so catastrophic for one side that it doesn't lend itself to a detailed game report. Sometimes, we also test ideas that were born during breakfast and are not yet ready for public consumption.

Uziel's discomfort, especially facing my armies, is not due to doubts about my tactical abilities. Rather, it's because I am currently exclusively testing the Sealed Temple against Uziel, while he still has his Nords relatively fresh in his repertoire. However, for the upcoming tournament in Beckum, there was an interesting test game that can be turned into a game report.

The Hundred Kingdoms [1500/1500] == (Warlord) Priory Commander (Sealed Temple) [110]: * Order of the Sealed Temple (3) [185]: Standard Bearer * Order of the Sealed Temple (3) [185]: Standard Bearer * Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [255]: Standard Bearer * Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [255]: Standard Bearer == (Warlord) Imperial Officer [75]: On Your Feet, Fire First, Aim Later * Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]: * Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]: * Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]: * Imperial Ranger Corps (3) [120]:

In the app, the list is saved under "no friends" and actually has a third Warband with one Sealed Temple and Ashen Dawn each, but without standards for the Sealed Temple. Since only 1500 points were to be played in Beckum, I wanted to test that, and Uziel was convinced to participate. Two Ashen Dawn at 1500 points are a statement, and the Sealed Temple with standards, which I actually find too expensive/useless, is audacious in itself. The options with Fluid Formation are countless. It starts with the fact that I can charge at least 10.5 inches without rolling, the young Blessed can get it, and they can simply stand for a round or, with Charge Clash against Jotnars, even kill a Jotnar. Blessed is great, Fluid is great, the guys run 17" onto the board and cover almost all zones, plus they are medium. In short, they will most likely get a severe beating on 08.02., but there are two tournaments in between where I could play them.

Nords [1500/1500]

== (Warlord) Shaman [75]: Prize Silver * Raiders (3) [120]: Captain * Raiders (3) [110]: * Sea Jotnar (1) [240]: * Mountain Jotnar (1) [190]: == Vargyr Lord [135]: Reyngeir, the God Spear * Werewargs (3) [160]: * Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]: * Mountain Jotnar (1) [190]: * Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:

Uziel's current list contains unpainted things because he bought them a few days ago, and I haven't had time to paint them. He has already tested the Werewargs at a tournament and is pleased that they bring the reinforcement line so far forward, as this list variant scores incredibly quickly and effectively.

Game Report

We played the scenario "Off - Balance." In the middle and far left, we placed a forest. The rest of the terrain was irrelevant for the Nords. Regarding the water, I secretly rejoiced that he was not good at hitting. However, he informed me that it didn't matter to him. This happened about three times or so...

In the first round, Uziel's Werewargs advanced 21" into a forest, while two Crossbows and the Ranger took positions on my side. Since I had to start, I could only shoot at the Wargs with one regiment, which was not very effective due to the forest.

In the second round, my remaining Crossbows and one Sealed Temple with the Commander arrived. For Uziel, the Fenrirs and the Shaman with the Medium Raiders came. I placed my Crossbows and characters at the top of the deck, then the Sealed Temple, and finally the remaining shooting units. I expected Uziel to advance aggressively with the Werewargs, and I planned to eliminate them. However, he first deployed his Raiders on the right flank, watched as I shot down a Warg, healed it again, and I shot it down again. The Fenrirs went into the zones. With the Sealed Temple, I considered how to proceed and decided to march them about 14 inches towards the Fenrirs. I could easily bridge that distance with Movement 8, Fluid, and Banner. For Uziel, it would be a 4 or 5 without reroll, and he disliked doing such things as much as I did. 0:5

In the third round, two Jotnars and his Raiders came for him, while only the Ashen Dawn came for me. I didn't like that at all, so I decided to wait and let Uziel score. I must not jump into him, so I retreated to avoid being torn apart by the Jotnars and Fenrirs right away. Therefore, two Crossbows went up, Ashen Dawn, then the characters, more shooting, and finally the Sealed Temple. Uziel built his deck ultra-aggressively and got to go first. His Fenrirs tried to charge the Sealed Temple, succeeded, but only caused 6 damage. That wasn't enough, but in return, I unfortunately only did 7 damage later. I cheerfully shot down a Fenr Beast on the left flank and a Warg in the middle, which hit my Ashen Dawn with Move Charge. Everything went according to plan, and he had to put a Jotnar in the left zone, while I backed off and shot at him to have all targets unattractively far away. In the middle, the Sea Jotnar appeared at the end, which already had respect for my shooters and was placed in the forest. All in all, rather uninspiring turn for me, but the Nord had to stretch now. 0:10

In the fourth round, finally, my remaining forces arrived, the Sealed Temple went up, and the Ashen Dawn went all the way down. The other regiments were unimportant, as I did not intend to score this round and only wanted to kill the Wargs and Fenrirs on the right. Perhaps the Sea Jotnar would become brave and make a Move Charge into the Ashen Dawn, just to face the consequences. Instead, Uziel tried to kill my Crossbows with the Jotnar and shot at the Ashen Dawn before the charge. The thick Sea Jotnar had no rerolls for the charge and stood an inch in front of the Crossbows. Luckily, my Crossbows hit worse the more dice they have, so there was only four damage through shooting. It was unpleasant, but now my second Sealed Temple could march next to the Sea Jotnar and maybe get the Charge Clash in the next round. The other Sealed Temple killed the Fenrirs, and the Ashen Dawn destroyed the Wargs. The right Ashen Dawn simply moved forward, and then the Mountain Jotnar had the idea to chase my Warlord and made a Move Charge into the flank of the Rangers. Thanks to the forest, there were no impacts, but they now stood annoyingly in my way. I decided to sacrifice the Rangers, they fled, only lost one stand in the process, and stood sideways in the way so that the Jotnars couldn't charge my Ashen Dawn. This one had marched to the position of the old one, and so the Nords scored alone again for the 0:15.

In the fifth round, Supremacy of the Commander, and there was Hardened for the Ashen Dawn. At the top was the Imperial Officer, whom I wanted to keep, and then the Sealed Temple. It would probably have been wiser to write off the Imperial Officer, but I was not sure how well the round would really go. So I wanted the chance to at least deny him a few points, and in the meantime, I could see what the Jotnars would do. Moreover, he could only charge one of the cavalry units sensibly if both Mountain Jotnars were at the top. Possible, but the cavalry were Ashen Dawn with Hardened, D4, R5, Blessed, and Uziel knew how sturdy they were. So he built his deck a bit differently to clear my shooting troops better and then position himself against the knights. I got to start, the Officer changed the regiment, the first Mountain Jotnar led a Move Charge behind and was only behind my lines. Unfortunately, two stands of Crossbows also died during the impacts, which didn't please me, but my Sealed Temple could perform the Auto-Charge against the Sea Jotnar and used Blessed for the impacts. Three Sealed Temple, but 12 impacts on the 3 with reroll and 13 attacks on the 4, all in the flank, were enough for the battered Jotnar. Then the others to the right had no sensible target anymore and tried a charge against the Raiders in the zone. These were at the old position of the Fenrirs, so I needed a three, and I got it, of course. What knocks down a Jotnar hurts half-naked men as well. The regiment simply fell apart, and with it, any chance for Uziel to hold this flank ever again. In the middle, the last Fenrir Beast finally fought through the Crossbows, and from behind, a few Raiders came while we approached the last activations of the round, and Uziel gambled. His second Jotnar tried to use the Rangers as a living shield against the Ashen Dawn. When I let the Rangers make the second retreat in the game, they died, but in deck building, I saw no point in putting the Ashen Dawn at the top. So now I was in Charge Clash range, and Uziel's plan to catch me with two Jotnars was obsolete. Worse still, I made the charge, took out the Jotnar, and got another foot in the zone. 7:15

Round 6, Uziel started, the Fenrir alone ate a regiment of Crossbows, where two had struggled against one regiment before. This reduced my ranged combat to almost zero, but I still had four regiments of knights. After the Mountain Jotnar had slain the Imperial Officer, the Sealed Temple could realize a Charge Clash, and I have to mention again how dumb Movement 8, Fluid Formation, and Banner are. I had always considered the Banner too expensive, but the fact that I could seriously attempt a Charge Clash at 13"-14" was already good. Above all, they could simply turn freely, and the Jotnar stood behind me. They resemble the Raptors, only with armor instead of chants. Uziel then gave up since I would only score from now on.

Conclusion: The game developed largely as expected, but my Reinforcements at 1500 points once again left a lasting, bad impression on me. However, the flexibility of the Order Knight units allowed unprecedented control over large parts of the battlefield, which, in my opinion, is currently excessively strong. Without these elements, the Hundred Kingdoms might possibly be pushed back to the lower end of the food chain again, making me curious about the upcoming balancing update in February. It remains to be seen what adjustments and refinements the upcoming update will bring and how this will affect the tactical diversity and balance in the game.