Practice game Paper Sorcerer Kings against Dweghom

Originally, we had planned to travel to Hildesheim to play some practice games. Unfortunately, we had to discard this idea due to some illness cases among the Hildesheim players. Instead, Uziel offered me a test game today. Since we had played the matchup "100k vs Dweghom" many times already and Meksmaks said that playing a game with the new faction is almost not playing a game, I decided to play my paper army of the Sorcerer Kings. Since the release date of the Sorcerer Kings is still a few weeks away, I currently have no other choice, and there probably won't be a painted army of them for me before May either.

Sorcerer Kings🔥 [1990/2000]

== (Warlord) Maharajah [140]: Parivartan, Court of Fire
 * Rajakur (3) [120]:
 * Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]:
 * Ghols (3) [110]: Born of Flame
 * Rakshasa Ravanar (1) [240]:

== Raj [160]: Jadoo Kavach, Bound to the Elements
 * Efreet Flamecasters (3) [160]:
 * Efreet Sword Dancers (5) [270]:
 * Ghols (3) [110]: Born of Flame
 * Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]:

== Sorcerer [130]: Eye of the Blazing Tempest, Court of Air
 * Rajakur (3) [120]:

The list focuses on the fire element since the fire models are quite attractive, and I prefer thematic armies. Is this a good choice? I doubt it, but my main goal is to test different mechanics and units. I'll elaborate on this further at the end.

Test new v2 | Dweghom 2k  [1995/2000]

== (Warlord) Tempered Sorcerer [185]: Cthonic Flame, Fire School, Focused
 * Fireforged (3) [180]:
 * Hellbringer Drake (1) [200]:

== Tempered Sorcerer [135]: Fire School, Hellbringer Sorcerer
 * Fireforged (3) [180]:
 * Hellbringer Drake (1) [200]:

== Hold Raegh [130]: Mnemancer's Eye
 * Hold Ballistae (3) [140]:
 * Ironclad Drake (1) [220]:
 * Dragonslayers (4) [285]:
 * Hold Ballistae (3) [140]:

Uziel's usual Dweghom stuff, but now with three Drakes... for fluffy reasons. After all, it's slow in the scenario, and Uziel hasn't even dealt with the Sorcerer Kings yet.

We chose the scenario "Grind them down" since it will also be played in Münster next week.

In the first round, the Dweghom only had one Ballista unit, and for me, both Ghols were available. Personally, I consider Ghols as one of the weakest selections in the entire game, but they also bring my reinforcement line forward, helping me score early points in many scenarios. Additionally, two regiments are included in my pre-orders, and I want to try everything out a bit first.

I get to start and place the first Ghols centrally in a forest, but I refrain from taking a third action. Then, facing Uziel's Ballista, my second Ghols move straight ahead on the far right and also refrain from taking their third action, as it looks quite comfortable behind the hill.

For round two, I received two Mediums, while Uziel only got the Fireforged with the Warlord. That was really helpful and bought me the time I needed. With 6 to 3 cards, I wasn't too worried and placed my Ghols below and the Rajakur and Mage above. So, the Rajakur and one of the two Mages took turns, as I couldn't perform a ritual this round, but I wanted to place two rituals, "Spiteful Winds" (opponents within 12" only receive "March +2") and "Far Sight" (essentially the direct activation of the next card).

Some may have noticed that I'm playing the Sorcerers with Wind instead of Fire. The reason is that I find their spells significantly better than those with Fire. Besides "Air Step," which also pushed my Rajakur into the zone, the other spells are very useful too. "Tailwind," as my important Elementals don't have "Unstoppable," and "Wildfire" as an attack spell are also quite good. More importantly, it allows them to heal my large Sword Dancer block with 5 hit points per round.

Finally, I activated my right Ghols and had them rush towards the enemy with swift steps, pulling my reinforcement line up to 24". 4:0

In the third round, I got everything except the Ravanar and a regiment of Sword Dancers. For Uziel, there was everything except the Ironclad, and it felt like it took me 20 minutes to build my deck. I really wanted to have the Raj early and prepare a third ritual. This one should be "Conflagration" (a free spell with 4 successes) since it only requires 9 markers, and then I could finish all three in this round. So, the Sword Dancers and the Raj had to go up, and then there were Ghols and more Mage power. It wasn't really relevant since I would definitely hold two zones and could further build my lead. Besides, I didn't really want to get much closer to the Dweghom.

On the far left, my large Sword Dancers appeared above the flank, and Uziel immediately brought in the Ballista there to annoy me, but I healed the ping damage quite well.

The Ghols, with R2 and Blood Lust, were very... unpredictable. Both ran away from me, and Uziel slaughtered them. At least there were still markers for the rituals. Otherwise, it was just a march, and I rotated my Sword Dancers with the Sorcerer so that the Flamecaster could also say "hello" from behind. Uziel's both Drakes came to the right side because he thought the Dragonslayers would handle the cheeky Efreetis. When he then placed 4 stands of Dragonslayers with Raegh, that was also my first thought. 11:4

In the fourth round, we both had all the cards in the deck, meaning the second Sword Dancers were rolled by me. Thanks to the rituals, I had 13 to 11 cards and wasn't allowed to start to go in with the Sword Dancers as late as possible. "Farsight," with the compulsory activation of the next card, was bothering me. Because if I were to start, the Sword Dancers would have to be at the bottom, and I wanted to have a ritual at the bottom to have the option of starting with three actions in the next round. Additionally, I wanted to bring at least two new rituals into my deck, so my deck-building took forever again. It's definitely a difficult compromise with the rituals and the different mages. Often, they prefer to be activated later to use their spells, but for the rituals, they often have to be activated very early. Otherwise, collecting markers is not effective. This slows down the momentum, and since everything has D3 R3, you can only withstand enemy attacks to a limited extent. It requires careful consideration and planning to get the best out of both worlds. Very exhausting, but very fun for me.

I chose the favorite zone in front of his Dragonslayers. Uziel started, and all my thoughts about how to reconcile Far Sight and the other stuff became obsolete. For me, a regiment of Rajakur and my three mages were up high because I wanted and needed two rituals and also wanted "Unstoppable," "Cleave 1," and "Deadly Blades" on the large Sword Dancers. The Maharaja's Rajakur were supposed to retreat because I didn't want any angry Drake or Tempered Sorcerer shooting or casting spells on the regiment. I managed all of that, and Uziel caused a lot of ping damage to my army until we both had only a few cards left, and luckily, his Warlord had already been activated. On the right flank, I pushed my second monster next to a Hellbringer, and the Ironclad promptly appeared opposite him. However, he was far away, and instead, I wanted to go after the Drake with the Sorcerer, who had ventured so far forward. My second Sword Dancers came in very central, and then I could finally draw the first rituals from the deck. First, the Bakasura engaged in a Move, Charge Clash into the regiment of the Tempered Sorcerer, causing only 7 damage thanks to the nasty tokens. But I hoped to maybe finish off Uziel's Warlord in the next round. Then it was the Sword Dancers' turn, and Uziel had gone into the zone with his Dragonslayers. For me, with Movement 5, it would have been a Four, but when the Dragonslayers move, the flank is mine. I thought long and hard and then decided to let Bloodlust decide. Of course, I rolled the dice and had to charge. There was the 4, and I stood with more stands than Uziel in the zone. Jadoo Impacts and Clash with Deadly Blades didn't sit well with the Dragonslayers at all, and I wiped them out precisely. 18:8

We built our decks together, and I got to start. Since my last card in the previous round was a ritual, the Bakasura now had 3 actions, and Uziel looked very crestfallen when I challenged him to a duel. He declined, and I easily slaughtered the Warlord's regiment. By the way, the Bakasura gives an extra victory point when killing a character. Uziel cursed extensively about how now I seemingly had three actions with every faction somehow and how his fair Dweghom couldn't do such things.

His Fireforged dealt four damage to my second monster, the Ravanar, who then activated and went into the Drake with the rider. I also dealt 8 damage there. Additionally, there was some damage from the Aura of Death later on. The rest of the game went on smoothly, and my two Sword Dancers, driven by Bloodlust, attacked the Ballista and killed both regiments. If Uziel's Ironclad hadn't been there, he probably would have given up, but he wanted to try out the beast. So he charged the Ravanar with Move and Charge. The impacts also immediately inflicted 8 damage on the flank, and theoretically, I could still have lost it, as he only had to somehow clear the three zones. 25:12

In the sixth round, I wanted to accomplish many things at once again, like two rituals. Mathematically, it was possible, but in doubt, it would cost me both monsters, so I planned only with one ritual. Both monsters went up, then the Raj to start "Conflagration," followed by the Sword Dancers and the rest. Uziel began, and the Ironclad killed the Ravanar. Thanks to "Last Word," this resulted in 8 hits on the already wounded Hellbringer with the Sorcerer on top, and Uziel was dumbfounded by the wording of the ability. 8 hits to the flank without morale on a target within 8" to a Sorcerer Kings mage. The Hellbringer died, and Uziel's left eyelid started twitching. "Jadoo," "Last Word," and "Elemental" were three things he found anything but okay. Since the Ironclad killed my Ravanar without Inspire, it continued with a charge towards the Rajakur. They survived that thanks to "Hardened." Now, my Bakasura could go, and since the last card in the last round, you guessed it, was a ritual, it attacked the Drake in the flank. Unfortunately, no "Jadoo," but the Drake burst nonetheless. Then I drew "Conflagration," and the Maharajah dealt one damage to the Ironclad. After that, the Fire Forged activated, killed the Bakasura, and there was another 5 damage for the Ironclad. Now, the Maharajah hadn't activated yet, so another "Burn to Cinders." All dice were a success... 10 hits. Uziel just shook his head, and I almost felt a little ashamed. But only almost. The last two hit points were then taken care of by the Maharajah with "Clash." Imagine him putting aside the staff, taking off his shirt, and saying to the Ironclad, "Let's settle this like true men in a wrestling match." Uziel surrendered at this point.

Post-game analysis of the army composition

Warlord: Maharajah [140]: Parivartan, Court of Fire

• Finally, I was able to play more than one ritual. Without the Maharajah Warlord, in my first test game, I either had no ritual in the deck or only one. With the Maharajah as Warlord, there were at least two for the crucial rounds, and even that wasn't guaranteed. Nevertheless, I chose Parivartan because, in my opinion, there are only a few good rituals available, and you can't use them in consecutive rounds. Parivartan allows me to cast a spell once per turn instead of using the ritual's effect. I could have saved the points since I originally assumed I would get three rituals per round, and the Scimitar would have been better in any case. I will still test it again.
  
• I unexpectedly enjoyed using Court of Fire instead of Wind. Although I only used the "Aura of Death" spell for healing, "Burn to Cinder" is truly impressive. So impressive that I am considering putting it into a large block of Rajakur with "Elemental Feedback" and simply throwing it bluntly at the opponent.
  

Raj [160]: Jadoo Kavach, Bound to the Elements:

• When the Raj casts a successful fire spell on his regiment with Jadoo, Jadoo grants the entire army, except the Sorcerer regiment, rerolls in attack. It feels much better than it is mathematically. More importantly, I can always shout "Jadoooooo" whenever I do it.
• I would also like to try putting him into a large block of Rajakur. Although they have significantly fewer attacks than the Sword Dancers, they lack Bloodlust. The problem is that all the great spells have scaling. This can be addressed with equipment, but somehow the benefit feels lesser then.
  

Sorcerer [130]: Eye of the Blazing Tempest, Court of Air

• Unfortunately, the Sorcerer is assigned to the Wind element, as I find fire to be significantly less effective for him. As support trailing behind the thick Sword Dancer block, she was okay. But whether you need the additional healing and can afford to allocate a 130-point character for support to an already expensive regiment, I find questionable. Especially since her spells can only heal the regiment of herself and the Raj. The equipment with +1 Mage Level and -3 Stands for scaling would probably be interesting for her. But the 3 healing in 8" is already nice.
  

Units:

• Rajakur (3) [120]: These Rajakur served as a protective escort for the Maharajah and the Sorcerer, and they fulfilled their task well. Hardened 1 was much more useful than expected, and the ability to easily heal everything in the army from ping damage is great.
  
• Ghols (3) [110]: Born of Flame: This unit, in my opinion, is the worst in Conquest, but they are also the only light unit the Sorcerer Kings have. Additionally, we are extremely slow in the early rounds, and I want to advance my line forward and potentially just jump straight into the opponent's face to stop them. Oh, and they also provide ritual markers. However, I still find the 30 points to be too expensive.
  
• Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260] & Rakshasa Ravanar (1) [240]: Originally, I planned to use double Bakasura because I believed it would be more effective. However, I wanted to give the Ravanar another chance, but unfortunately, the Bakasura would have been more sensible again. Of course, in this case, it could also be because the Drakes have Evasion 2 and more regiments with characters than monsters are roaming around.
  
• Efreet Sword Dancers (5) [270] & Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]:Without Bloodlust, they would be really great. And if the Raj had a movement of 6, that would be great too. I wouldn't mind if he only had Unstoppable, but having Bloodlust and no reroll on the charge is exhausting. But if they get the Charge Clash once, that's cool, but only against D3 R3 or worse. For everything else, they need help from the Raj and the Molten Blades.
  
• Efreet Flamecasters (3) [160]: Their range is limited, and they only have Volley 2. Sure, Height 2 is good, but since most of my army is so big, that only helps to a limited extent. I think a third unit of Sword Dancers would simply be better, but I don't want to build all my boxes the same way. Maybe they'll perform better in the next few days.
  
  Overall, I'm satisfied. Playing with the Sorcerer Kings is going quite well. However, my victory is mainly due to Uziel blindly rushing into the Sorcerer Kings.