Battlereport Brave humans with Sticks vs Brave humans with Ponys

A few days after the Monday game, I met up with the Pommesmann (Discord Bremer) again and played game number 11 for 2024. Not all games make it to the blog because I simply lack the time to write about each one.

The Hundred Kingdoms [1995/2000]
Relentless Drill

== (Warlord) Imperial Officer [75]: Brace for Impact, Fire First, Aim Later
 * Gilded Legion (8) [400]: Standard Bearer, Drillmaster
 * Imperial Ranger Corps (3) [120]:
 * Militia Bowmen (3) [85]: Errant of the Order of the Shield
 * Men at Arms (3) [105]:

== (Warlord) Noble Lord [80]: Weapon Master
 * Household Guard (8) [365]: Standard Bearer, Armsmaster
 * Household Knights (3) [140]: Standard Bearer
 * Militia Bowmen (3) [85]: Errant of the Order of the Shield
 * Household Knights (3) [140]: Standard Bearer

== Theist Priest [135]: Elysian Fragment, Focused, Arcane 1
 * Militia (8) [265]: Standard Bearer, Servite

We wanted to practice for Hamburg, so again a nice 2000 points. Since I didn't feel like repacking my suitcase, I simply expanded the list I had played against Lupus (Link) a few days earlier. Large blocks, little shooting, and weak cavalry. Somehow I didn't like it, but if I do it right, there are really many attacks per block that can bring an opponent down.

The Hundred Kingdoms [2000/2000]
Veterans

== (Warlord) Mounted Noble Lord [180]: Olefant's Roar, Weapon Master, Tip of the Lance
Mounted Squires (3) [155]: Veterans, +1 Clash, Standard Bearer, Count Palatine
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) [255]: Standard Bearer
Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [255]: Standard Bearer

Marcus wanted to practice his tournament list again as in the last game, and there is also a small article about this list that might be interesting (Link). High movement, good armor, average hit points, and 10 cards, but twice Ashen Dawn. That's tough, and normally, I would prefer high cleave values, shooting, and magic against such a list, but I had little of those.

Battlereport:

The scenario played was "Off Balance," and two houses divided the table into three nice lines. Except for the central forest, the rest of the terrain wasn't relevant in the game because we could either play around it, and "Obscuring" didn't matter due to only one shooting unit. My plan was simple: concentrate everything I have on the center, keep the militia somewhat back, and send the Gilded Legion where the thick household block is. Since I probably can't take the lead and on the left, I only get fair fights that my infantry will lose, this should somehow work. If all the Household Knights or Crimson come from the left, the Gilded Legion could also do their job there.

In round 1, both Squires for Marcus and Ranger, Militia, and the Bowmen for me arrive. Thanks to more characters, he gets to position first, and I abandon my plan because I want to throw fire on the Squires with the Priest. Of course, that's not possible because the Priest had already acted, but I don't see it as a big issue.

In round two, we both get all Mediums, and I also get my missing Bowmen. Since not much should happen in the round, the characters come up, followed by the infantry on the field, and then the one that will come. Actually a good plan, I think, but Marcus doesn't just charge into me and places the Household Knights on the left. Actually, it was clear, but I firmly expected them to come in the center because everything of mine is in the center... which it wasn't because I had placed the Militia on the left. So I put my Household Guard next to them to at least benefit from the supremacy of the Noble Lord and happily ignored the fact that there is a house and a marker in front, which could keep my Household Guard out of the game for roughly three rounds. My Rangers went into the zone since they were quite alone in the center, and I moved the rest forward. 2:0

Round 3, my Gilded Legion goes into the deck, and Marcus gets two Ashen Dawn. Basically, we just moved, and a Household Knights blocked his Squire on each flank with a Move-Charge after they had done something. Unfortunately, I hadn't placed a living shield in front of the Militia on the left, and I had the crazy idea that they should withstand the impacts of the Household Knights with "Best of Men." If there had been Longbows or Crossbows behind them, that might have been a plan, but at this point, I found it unwise. Less wise was my positioning of the Household Guard, as I now realized, and they started turning to be able to help if the Militia broke. I charged the Bowmen at the objective and even managed to inflict some damage. Eventually, both Ashen Dawn obediently came to the center next to each other, as planned, but now there were no cheap regiments as a shield and the Household Guard with Militia behind them. So I placed the Gilded Legion there and cursed inwardly about myself and the fact that I had already derailed my plan in round 1. At least I got 2 points, and I led 4:0.

Marcus' both Crimson Tower regiment cards went back into his deck in round 4, and he got to start. Reform, charge, and 5 stands of Militia were slaughtered. Much later, I used "Blessed" and the "Fragment" to take 3.5 knights from the regiment, which pleased me somewhat. If my Household Knights hadn't miserably failed on the D3 of the Squire, that would have been cool. But from the back, the first Crimson Tower with the Commander marched in to clean up the remnants of the left flank. At least now it was my zone because the Household Knights had broken. In the center, his second Household Knights used Reform Charge, but with Clash 2, it wasn't so impressive. So both regiments of Bowmen tried to destroy the objective, but I only made one damage and hoped that the Ashen Dawn would finally do something. As the last activations, they finally moved and didn't want to attack my Rangers, where the Imperial Officer had meanwhile switched to the Gilded Legion. But they wanted to eat my Men at Arms, so I pushed the Rangers out of the way and charged the Ashen Dawn with the Gilded Legion. As expected, it was only partially successful, but the zone was mine, and I needed points and some luck with dice next round. 9:0

Of course, Marcus started; the second Ashen Dawn used a Charge-Clash against the Gilded Legion, and four stands went home. The counter-attack against the second Ashen Dawn made a solid two damage and thus killed one of the monster ponies. Not quite what I wanted, but at least I only lost two more stands of the Gilded Legion to the second Ashen Dawn. On the left, I used the Priest's duel spell for the first time and actually killed the Noble Lord with it. Since the knights didn't activate in between, the Militia could even kill him, and I could thus hold the zone. At least until the Crimson Tower denied it to me again. My Household Knights and the Squire continued to fight on both sides, and I lost significantly more life in my knights than he did with his Squire. Not so good, and when the Clash 2 Household Knights in the center wiped out both Bowmen regiments in one activation, I saw no hope for anything. Well, I still have the Rangers and took a shot from the hip at the Ashen Dawn, immediately shooting down an undefeated rider. 11:2

Round 6, still quite a long way to go, and on the right, Marcus stationed the second Crimson Tower to help, so I would be broken on every front. Also, he used his Supremacy. Nevertheless, I still had an idea, as my Household Guard slowly approached the front line, and the left flank would theoretically be savable if his Crimson Tower lay further down. So, Militia and Household Knights up, and I got to start. The Militia finally freed my riders, but Marcus's first activation is the Crimson, and my Militia go home. Then the Crimson Tower turns a bit. Therefore, my Household Knights on the other flank are activated and fail again against the Squire. Somewhat later, those on the left flank would also fail against the Crimson, but the important thing was that the Squire on the right side retreated, and the Crimson Tower wiped me out with Blessed and impacts. In the center, it wasn't much better, and I made a couple of mercy damage points to the Ashen Dawn before my Officer with the Gilded Legion also had to be removed from the board. The Rangers shot at the activated Ashen Dawn, and the second rider fell. Brave boys, always aim for the eyes. Unfortunately, there were still enough others, and they made an attack against my Household Guard, and three stands went home. Then his Clash 2 Household Knights did two damage to the objective, and we went into round 7. 11:6

Round 7, I wasn't allowed to start, and my Household Guard dealt three damage to the Ashen Dawn, and I lost everything except one stand to the Ashen Dawn and the Household Knights, who also attacked the block. But I still had the good Rangers, who took the last three lives of an Ashen Dawn and thus, if not entirely alone, had already killed 3 stands of Ashen Dawn in this game. On the other flanks, everything fell, or Marcus moved towards the second objective marker. 11:12

Round 8, I wasn't allowed to start either, but in dying, the Noble Lord took another battered stand of Ashen Dawn with him, and the other was so scared that he immediately messed up his Resolve tests and stayed there with 4 lives. This fool, that was nothing for the Imperial "We Murder Ashen Dawn" Ranger Corps. Turned, aimed, and the last Ashen Dawn also went down before I lost my Rangers. Marcus took the objective, and in round 9, both zones for the final score of 11:28.

Conclusion: I don't know what I did there, but it definitely wasn't good, and it was more on me than on the list. The positioning was terrible, and even though my list had a disadvantage against his, it was not an exemplary example of anything. The positive thing, however, is that Marcus was incredibly happy because he hadn't won a game outside of tournaments before.