Battlereport Hundred Kingdoms vs City States

On Mondays, we play at Sidequest Bremerhaven, and Lupus offered to have a small test game for Beckum.

The Hundred Kingdoms [1495/1500]
Relentless Drill

== (Warlord) Imperial Officer [75]: On Your Feet, Fire First, Aim Later
 * Imperial Ranger Corps (3) [120]:
 * Men at Arms (3) [105]:

== (Warlord) Noble Lord [125]: Regalia of the Empire, Weapon Master, Tactical 1
 * 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 (6) [205]: Standard Bearer, Servite

My list differs a bit from my usual playstyle as I typically support blocks with longbows. However, since my Men-at-Arms, Household Guard, and Household Knights share the same heads, I wanted to create a visually cohesive army. Supported by a priest with Militia, as I find them not enjoyable gameplay-wise, but I wanted to test them more. When already playing two infantry blocks, the Imperial Officer is a suitable Warlord. No Crossbows because I want to play other units, and lately, I've been excluding Rangers from my lists more often. Errant of the Order of the Shield is included just because I had the points open, and I feel like I'm in melee with the Bowmen more often than they shoot.

The City States [1500/1500]

== (Warlord) Polemarch [170]: Atalanta's Spear, Inscription of Lighter Alloys, Architects 1, Architects 2 
* Hoplites (5) [250]: Dorilates, Minotaur Haspist Auxiliary
* Minotaur Haspists (3) [180]:
* Agema (3) [195]: Xypharchos
* Selinoi (3) [160]:

== Aristarch [200]: Blades of Eakides, Expert Scouts, Architects 1, Architects 2, Architects 3
* Thorakites (4) [205]: Minotaur Thyrean Auxiliary
* Phalangites (3) [140]: 

Lupus also wanted to test something and had an Aristarch in Thorakites with Expert Scouts. This resulted in the Agema, Selinoi, and Thorakites Vanguard. It's quite an expensive setup, and as a result, the Hoplite block with Mobility was small, and there were Phalangites instead of more cows. Overall, a manageable task for me.

Battlereport

We played Forlon Hope, and in the middle were a nice pond and a hill. The remaining terrain slightly constrained the battlefield, but since Forlon Hope had a strong focus on the center, it didn't matter. The rest of the terrain was irrelevant due to low shooting and almost no impacts.

In Round 1, we both had two light regiments, and I chose to get my Ranger and Militia with the characters because they would surely score me points next round. Characters went to the top of the deck, and Kevin did the same, except he placed a card in the strategy deck as the first activation. This made us have almost the same number of cards, but he had to place units first. His Selinoi came in on the far left, and in the center were the Thorakites. They wanted the marker instead of a zone, which confused me moderately. So the Rangers marched into a forest on the left, and the Militia on the right moved an incredible 19 inches onto the board.

In Round 2, I got Household Guard and Knights, and my Bowmen; he only got the Hoplite block. I liked that, and my Rangers shot a bit at my marker while we threw alibi activations at each other until Lupus attacked the objective with the Thorakites and caused two damage due to impacts. Greedy as I was, my Militia block marched 13 inches forward so that the Priest could throw some holy fire at the Greeks. Overall, it wasn't very successful, but next round I could charge. His Hoplite block marched on the left, and opposite, I positioned my Household Guard. Usually, they win such a fight, especially when they are almost twice the size of the Hoplites. Also, this allowed me to enter a zone and happily score 4:0 alone.

In Round 3, Lupus got all his cards, and my Men-at-Arms didn't come in. Nevertheless, Lupus started by killing the objective and withdrew far enough that the charge with my Militia wasn't as interesting anymore. So, they retreated, and Kevin used his characters and the strategy deck to delay the important things. I followed suit, and my second Household Knights went to the right zone, and the others destroyed the objective marker. Then, on the right, his Agema and cows marched forward, threatening my poor Militia. Finally, my Household Guard marched bluntly forward, and we went to 16:3.

In Round 4, I got to start, and my brave Militia moved back a bit because I didn't want to face a charge from the Agema in my flank. Lupus's first card was the Hoplites, who wanted to get out of the range of the Household Guard. Then, we both had the usual two or three character activations, and something went into the strategy deck for the City States. Overall, we were just positioning ourselves, and his Selinoi dealt some damage to my Household Guard, but not much happened until his cows moved with a Move Charge into my Militia. If Lupus wants a starting roll-off, he can have it, and my Household Guard made a double move into his zone, and directly in front of the Hoplites, I happily scored 3 zones, and Lupus only one, going to 25:5.

My consideration was that the hoplites are more important to him than the cows, and he will definitely activate the hoplites. Lupus thought similarly, only he concluded that my militia would be on top, and if he starts doing what he needed to catch up in points, it would be devastating for me. Well, his plan for round 5 unfortunately worked, as my militia were on top, and I always had an activation behind. First, the cows hit the militia, then his hoplites struck my household guard, and my remnants fought back. Finally, the rangers and the priest eradicated the cows and then perished through the phalangites. Annoying, but melee bowmen and man-at-arms were still there and threw themselves into the spears of the phalangites. Overall, it was quite mixed, and when his thorakites charged, luckily only making contact with one stand in the front, my household guard block went from 32 to 13 lives. Starting the next round would be nice. At least, I scored three zones again, and Lupus only one. 32:9

Of course, I didn't start in round six; my household guard burst through the hoplites, and the agema slaughtered the bowmen, then comfortably turned in the zone. His battered phalangites went through the man-at-arms, and behind them, household knights were placed to ensure I would definitively hold the zone. On the left flank, despite losing the household guard, things went well as the rangers, along with a regiment of household knights, eradicated the thorakites despite the water. I didn't really care that two horses went through the selinoi because I saw no problem in losing at that point, but I hadn't calculated it. So, we both scored two zones and went to 38:15.

Round 7, and I still had rangers, the officer, the man-at-arms, and two cards of household knights. I built it similarly because I didn't care. My rangers shot at the hoplites, something went into his strategy deck, I did something, and then a clever double activation came. His polemarch used mobility, went with Seek New Escort into the selinoi, turned both regiments, and suddenly was in charge distance of the rangers and would probably hold both zones. Somehow, I forgot about mobility, and the second activation was, of course, the selinoi, who shot the lone knight. Usually, I'm the one who knows exactly what's happening on the battlefield and reads my opponent like a book, but I've been playing tabletops with Lupus for years, and he was absolutely sure about my deck, so I always lagged one activation behind or was wrong and even lost the man-at-arms. When the hoplites prepared to charge, I got a little nervous, but the distance was not optimal even with mobility (Note: the regiment retains the movement bonus even when the character leaves the regiment), and he opted for a move-charge against the rangers because he didn't want to try a 4+. So, I only scored one zone, and Lupus two: 38:19

 

 

In round 8, I got to start, and my riders went into the agema. One stand survived and killed 7 lives of the knights with its 8 attacks. Thus, I scored again, and on the left side, my rangers fell, making Lupus dangerously close. 40:25. In the following round, I lost the initiative, and Lupus could capture three zones each for 9 points in rounds 9 and 10, reaching 40:43.

Conclusion: In the end, I unfortunately lost the game due to some inattentive moments, even though I had control and could have won. There were a few tactical errors and crucial details that I overlooked, ultimately leading to my defeat. Alongside, I felt too secure. Overall, I liked the list because it looks very much like rank and file and a classic army, as I had in my children's books.