Hi there!
Last weekend (27.01.2024) Minyarts organized a beginner-friendly 1500 point Conquest tournament. Taking this as an opportunity, I thought I would write another guest post for Hanna.
Introduction
After a well-balanced breakfast, the miniatures were thrown into the trunk and we hit the highway for 120 minutes.
In addition to a spacious location, Miniyarts in Beckum also offers a comprehensive Conquest range and 16 players arrived on time to score points with Melee, Off-Balance and Forlorn Hope.
I wanted to set up Varangians again and therefore decided on a Xhiliarchen Warlord. Fittingly, Praetorians are an excellent mainstay for this and my passion for the round Aura of Death golems is well known. So the Archmandrite was the second warlord and the list kind of wrote itself:
The Old Dominion
== (Warlord) Xhiliarch [175]: Legio I 'Primigenia', Eternal Discipline, Regalia 1, Regalia 2, Regalia 3
* Praetorian Guard (5) [285]: Standard Bearer, Profane Reliquary
* Varangian Guard (4) [265]: Standard Bearer
== Archimandrite [100]:
* Legionnaires (3) [135]: Optio
* Legionnaires (3) [120]:
* Bone Golems (3) [210]:
* Bone Golems (3) [210]:
Lots of health, lots of Aura of Death and lots of Cleave 2+... What more could Hazlia want? Overall, the Xhiliarch is a bit slower in gameplay than the Strategos due to its Supremacy as a Warlord, but in very high-scoring scenarios this should be less of a problem. What you lose in VP can easily be made up in turn 8/9/10 with an average of 10VP per turn. The reduced Dark Power tier thresholds allow me to reach T2 easily even without a dedicated Dark Power plan. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Actually, I only really want to have Bastion for the Praetorians anyway.
The plan was as follows: Xhiliarch and Praetorians come on turn 2. Varangians as the slowest Heavy selection for sure on turn 3 and thanks to Tactical Retinue 3 I also have good chances for early Bone Golems. Late in turn 3 I hope to engage and break the opponent's Supremacy in turn 4. If there are very tough targets on the other side (Ashen Dawn/Tontor), the Supremacy is delayed in order to overwhelm them safely. I don't have very many high-value attacks, so they have to be used in a targeted manner.
Beforehand, I managed to convince Timm to simply put together the exact same list. Timm had just started playing OD locally and had played his first one or two games with the one true faction. Before that, he played with City States, but was able to see the error of his ways and became my Sith apprentice. Because Hazlia's fire burns hot, Nick from Lübeck was also convinced to swore off his Spires and raid Beckum with the sameOD list. Full BoneLem power! What I didn't know: Simon from Heidelberg also had a very similar list with double BoneLems and Praetorians in his luggage. We had been there two weeks earlier and i had talked a lot about lists with him. I had successfully infected all the OD players >:-D
Game I Melee vs City States
We don't have a regular City States player regionally, so my experience in the matchup was more based on hearsay. The few games I had against the renegade Turbo Greeks, I successfully forgot/suppressed. But I was very confident. Hardly any ranged pressure, rarely any real rush and nothing overly tough... or so I thought. But hubris is a recurring theme in this report.
The City States
== Aristarch [110]: Any 20pts equipment
* Thorakites (4) [205]: Minotaur Thyrean Auxiliary
* Minotaur Thyreans (3) [190]:
== (Warlord) Polemarch [195]: Atalanta's Spear, Inscription of Lighter Alloys, Overkill, Architects 1, Architects 2, Architects 3
* Hoplites (7) [330]: Dorilates, Minotaur Haspist Auxiliary
* Thorakites (4) [220]: Lochagos, Minotaur Thyrean Auxiliary
* Hephaestian (1) [250]:
Opposite me, two Thorakites blocks marched up with Moo Apprentice on their flanks and centrally a large Blobb Hoplites including Udderbearer, Polemarch and Hephaestian. Later, mean cattle also ruined the right lawn. Two houses each blocked a small area of the formation, otherwise only the central forest was relevant.
In terms of points, the City States secured both flanks mission objectives early on. I preferred to secure my optio Legionnaires to one of the central hexes and to clear the flanks of the Thorakites first. first. On the left this task was given to the Varangians, on the right Legionnaires + Archmandrites and BoneLems were to make Hazlia proud. The center belonged to the Praetorians - as usual. I used the Forest edge to intercept the Giant and Hoplite attack with full width. How bad can they get? Answer: Very bad. The Polemarch and Emotional Support Cow of the Regiment produced 10+ hits every turn with enough Cleave to make me a little sick every time. The Cleave 3 giant was the icing on the cake.
In terms of points, the City States secured both flanks early on. I preferred to secure my Optio Legionnaires on one of the central zones and clear the flanks of the Thorakites first. The Varangians were assigned this task on the left, while Legionnaires + Archmandrites and BoneLems were to make Hazlia proud on the right. The center belonged to the Praetorians - as usual. I used the forest edge to intercept the Giant and Hoplite attack with full width. How bad can they get? Answer: Very bad. The regiment's Polemarch and Emotional Support cow were producing 10+ hits every turn with enough
Cleave to make me a little sick every time. The Cleave 3 giant was the icing on the cake.
From turn 8 onwards I had a regiment in three zones (2x Legionnaires and 1x Varangians) and a single BoneGolem grinning as he ran into zone four. I couldn't stop the remaining hoplites, but they were only a single regiment and couldn't stop me from scoring enough points. 59 to 29 in the name of Hazlia! But I have gained a new respect for this violent block. I'll approach it differently next time.
At the other tables, Nick's OD hordes lose super close against Dweghom, while Timm carves the first notch into his laser sword.
Game II Off balance vs Nords
Uziel's Nords presented themselves for Game II. His list is very light and focuses on an early rush to then pull back and maintain the lead with the Giants. Feasible in the right scenario if nothing goes wrong. Absolutely brutal if the opponent is intimidated and wastes scoring time. But off balance is far from the right scenario. Two large zones for few points and very deep objectives on the opponent (usually more relevant in the mid to late game) allow only little pre-scoring. And I know pretty much exactly how his list works and what I have to do. We had played this matchup before and aggressive OD is a tough case for him. Even though Uziel is an outstanding Nords player, the signs are against him.
Nords
== (Warlord) Shaman [90]: Prize Silver, Sacrificial Lamb
* Raiders (3) [120]: Captain
* Raiders (3) [110]:
* Sea Jotnar (1) [240]:
* Mountain Jotnar (1) [190]:
== Vargyr Lord [120]:
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
* Werewargs (3) [160]:
* Mountain Jotnar (1) [190]:
In the Early Game, Uziel rushes the mission objectives. On the left with the Werewargs, in the middle with his Warlord Regiment. I counter this with my Archmandrite Legionnaires on the left (they should be more than enough for the Wolves - again Hybris...) and the Praetorians in the middle. Ideally, the Shaman dies quickly so that his Blessed Buff is wasted before the Nords have much capital on the board. A regiment of Fenr Beasts secures each zone.
On the right, I answer that with Flitzer Legionnaires to keep the Fenr from juicier targets. Uziel doesn't want to get involved with this plan and hopes for some losses from a flanking charge into the Praetorians. However, Hazlia stands by me and only one stand goes. The dogs fall against the Old Dominion legions. It probably would actually have been better to give up the center and keep the Fenr conservatively in the zone, but Uziel doesn't want to give me the objective (4 points after all) and the matchup is also so bad that he has to succeed with some risky moves if he wants to win. But success is not given to him and also the first central Mountain Jotnar is eaten by the Varangians in the Supremacy Turn, after he could only kill one Stand in the Charge.
On the right Legionnaires finish off a regiment of Raiders and hold the zone, on the left Wargs and Legios+Archmandrites chew on each other forever until an unholy baptism is right and the Vagyr Lord prefers to fall into his own blade rather than be called "Fluffy" from now on. The middle finally falls after the Sea Jotnar is engaged by 2 regiments of Bone Golems and the Praetorians and loses his remaining 5 wounds to Aura of Death 17 or similar. Uziel has only one Moutain Jotnar left at the end of turn six (16:18), while I have effectively only lost the Varangians and two Golems.
We then extrapolate conservatively. Each of us can probably get another objective and I score through all the zones from turn 7 onwards. 36:22 We both knew in advance how the game would go and that's how it turned out. Without Ice Jotnar and Bow-Chosen with a pack of 1 hit rolls, I think OD is very difficult for Nords to break.
Overall a good round for Old Dominion. Both Timm and Nick finish off the opposition. This puts our clone list triumvirate at 5-0-1 after round 2
Spiel III Forlorn Hope vs Old Dominion
In classic Sith fashion, Timm turns on me, unaware of the further abysses of the dark side I have in store for him...
At the second final table, Hanna also takes on the mirror match and two of the 100 kingdoms beat each other up (very well!). I don't have to say anything about the list, we're playing exactly the same stuff. I had thought beforehand that Varangians would be good against BoneLems, since every hit is a DMG. Praetorians would be good against Varangians to drown the D3 in a swarm of Aura of Death and normal hits. That leaves my BoneLems vs his Praetorians. So much for the plan. Right at the start, my Reinforcement Rolls go bombastic. Every single selection gets on the board as early as possible, while Timm even rolls below average here. So I can take a 2-point lead and have the whole thing safely in the bag (again hubris! This has only gone wrong twice so far).
Much to my delight, Timm counters my Praetorians on the right with his Varangians. Because I've forgotten my plan again, I push my Varangians in behind the Praetorians (where they are of course standing on each other's feet), while Timm stays cool and positions himself wider. Our BoneLems eat their respective objectives and face each other in the middle. Timm opens the aggression and his Pärtorians kill my speedster Legionnaires. This was even intentional, so that I could start on Tier 2 next turn and give my Alpha Strike more weight. Immediately afterwards, I totally screw up and call a greedy charge clash with BoneLems vs Praetorians. Of course, the BoneLems fail their required 4 twice and don't even make it into the zone that was previously in Legionary hands... points lead squandered :-0
In a state of shock at my own stupidity, I immediately make the next mistake and give up all the chances I still had. While Timm (correctly) fires his supremacy, I decide to let him run into the void, hold back and prepare a counter-move instead. Quite rightly, I am massively punished for this and lose the initiative. The Varangians explode into my Praetorians and wipe out 3 stands. His BoneGolems destroy my second regiment of Legionaries and are safely in front of my own Golems. Timm also shows me directly how to get the most out of the balls: Just roll more ones =D. Now Everything has to work in the following turns: My BoneLems and Varagians have to eat his. Neither works. My Varangians mess up their hits, Timms hit back better and, to crown my humiliation, his BoneLems get eight ones in the fight against mine. Beaten on turn 6 by my own borrowed troops with my own list. I should have guessed it. It ends with a 70:20 or something like that. Absolutely desered for Timm, who played it down solidly while I played a lot of too clever ideas absolutely disastrously into the sand. I console myself with the fact that Hazlia triumphed in the end. And I'll never lend out my BoneLems again.
Conlusion
All in all a very fun event. Hanna triumphs in the 100k duel and takes first place. Timm follows her closely as the only unbeaten OD player. Uziel's Nords take bronze and I finish behind Nick but ahead of Simon. So all four ODs made it into the top 6 and all performed at least 2-0-1. Hazlia's fire was definitely burning hot! On top of that, I also take home the Best Painted Award.
I have a small personal gripe with the use of the official app for pairings, apparently the top seed is paired against the last seed in each bracket (not entirely sure here) and using VP-made as the first tiebreaker rewards you for stomping less experienced players into the ground as badly as possible, while penalizing close games at eye level. In my opinion, SOS (Strength of schedule) is the clearly superior mode here and I would like to be able to optionally change the tiebreaker in the app. With 16 players in a three-round event, however, this is very secondary and it was a super cool location with very nice people and a smooth process. Thanks for that!
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