Practice game Paper Sorcerer Kings against Spire

On Monday, it was game night at Sidequest, and originally I wanted to test Hundred Kingdoms twice. But due to scheduling conflicts and the A27 closure, we ended up playing a game of Sorcerer Kings instead. Additionally, my fellow player René had pre-ordered large quantities of it and was eager to see how it played out on the table. Hence, here comes the next game report featuring the paper army!

Feuer 🔥 [1990/2000] Sorcerer Kings

== (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]:

I decided to go with the same list, especially since I had learned that the markers don't disappear at the end of the round from the rituals. Additionally, I wanted to give the Flamecasters another chance before drafting a new list.

Spire [2000/2000]

== Pheromancer [120]: Avatar Projection, Plaguelord
* Brute Drones (4) [220]:
* Force-Grown Drones (4) [140]: Catabolic Node

== Biomancer [150]: Sensory Augmentation, Master of Flesh
* Bound Clones (3) [150]: Standard Bearer, Catabolic Node
* Bound Clones (3) [150]: Standard Bearer, Catabolic Node
* Abomination (1) [150]:
* Abomination (1) [150]:

== (Warlord) Pheromancer [130]: Master of Flesh
* Force-Grown Drones (4) [140]: Catabolic Node
* Brute Drones (5) [270]:
* Force-Grown Drones (3) [90]:
* Force-Grown Drones (4) [140]: Catabolic Node

Rene had an unusual Underspire list. I don't think I've ever seen those small explosive drones on the board before, and everything seemed quite manageable. We played the "Melee" scenario since we're going to play it on Saturday in Münster.

In round 1, both of my Gholes came onto the board, and Rene had a regiment of FGD with the Warlord Pheromancer. I had to start, and since his Pheromancer was at the top, both Gholes simply moved with 3 Move actions towards his table edge. The reinforcement line had to move forward!

In round 2, I had both Rajakur with the Maharajah and the Sorcerer, while Rene had only one set of FGD and Brute Drones. Naturally, I liked this setup, and I started with the Rajakur with the Sorcerer. They moved from the flank to a zone, and the Sorcerer prepared "Far Sight" and moved them with a Reform into another zone. Due to my insatiable greed for rituals, they ended up being positioned on top, which allowed him to place his Brute Drones opposite them. D3 R3 12 Life wouldn't withstand such an assault, so I had to assist in the next round. On the other side, the Maharajah with the Rajakur moved to another zone and also prepared a ritual. Movement 5 + Banner just isn't enough to hold both zones in round 2. I need at least Movement 7, preferably with a Banner. Annoyingly, both Gholes also unintentionally moved forward once, and we each forewent our second actions. 3:0

Next round, I only got the two Heavys, while Rene got a set of Brute Drones with Pheromancer, the remaining FGD, and both Abominations. In other words, I wanted to secure zones. Accordingly, I built my deck and withdrew my Rajakur from the right zone first. Overall, we just positioned ourselves slightly, and my Gholes had to charge twice. The ones on the left managed to do so and inflicted three wounds on a regiment of FGD. Useless idiots. Rene had no interest in attacking my stuff and simply took three zones, so my monsters remained within Move, Charge, and Clash range. Thanks to the Maharajahs, both rituals also made it into my deck, but if I hadn't chosen a 12er as the second, it would have been possible without them as well. I really need to take another look at how that interacts with the Sorcerer Warlord. So far, no Warlord convinces me 100%. 3:10

Round 4, we both get our leftovers, and I'm already rejoicing at a charge from the side, but I don't consider how slow Movement 5 is and that I don't have any rerolls for the charge either. So I greedily stack my deck with a ritual on top, then the Efreet and the remaining mages, so I have rituals in the deck for the next round. No ritual went all the way down because I also wanted to kill things with one of the big monsters. Rene started, my right Gholes died to the Brute Drones with Biomancer, and I tried to push the large Efreet block onto the board and charge. But that wasn't feasible unless I tried the 5 without a reroll... so I took the small ones and let them go with Move Move Charge into one Abomination, as I wanted to secure my Maharajah. That wasn't wise, like the entire deck building, but somehow I had a different expectation of my movement ranges, and above all, I wanted to charge from the side. I dealt significant damage to the Abo, which then only dealt 7 damage to the Efreet. Maybe I could heal them later.

In the middle, the FGD and Gholes continued their brawl, demonstrating their incompetence. First, I managed to slay enough of them, then the Pheromancer healed them back up, and they attacked with the drone. In the end, I suffered 4 damage, and the drones almost wiped themselves out with the explosive drone. After that, I wasn't really afraid anymore.

Otherwise, we just moved around, and Rene simply wanted to comfortably hold the zone on the right with his thick block drones, but first, my Sorcerer was allowed to cast Wildfire on them before the Ravanar went in, so they wouldn't score anymore. Before the Ravanar did anything, though, I was able to convert a ritual into a spell, and the Maharajah used Burn to Cinder with 4 automatic successes plus what he rolled to damage the Abomination with the Efreet. He did it again shortly afterward, and the monster bid farewell.

Now it was time for the Ravanar. I was looking forward to this. Fiend Hunter, Cleave 2, greater charge range... Surprised and somewhat dismayed, I realized that he only gets +3 Charge against monsters and not against Brutes. Luckily, Rene had come a bit too far forward, otherwise, I would have had to roll. So the beast struck hard, slew a few drones, thus breaking them. The Bakasura went into a zone, and due to some miscalculations, I only had one ritual ready. Finally, my large block of Efreet marched on the right side, as I didn't believe the Ravanar would hold out against more Brutes and the Abomination for long. 13:14.

Next round. Now it was getting intense, and I only had one ritual. Somehow that wasn't wise. At least it was a ritual of "Far Sight." I placed the Ravanar at the top, then Far Sight for the Bakasura. I discarded that and decided to place Far Sight all the way down, as I couldn't gain any reasonable advantage from the third action anywhere. Rene started and activated the still broken Brute Drones, which died directly from the Aura of Death. Then came the next card, which I didn't care about, and then my Ravanar was allowed to charge into the second group of Brutes with the Pheromancer. There, it slew a few drones again, and one died from the Aura of Death. I also want Aura of Death 4 on regiments, it's so good. And for me, it's only 5 hits instead of 20. Unfair Old Dominion and Spire, but that's beside the point in case Nino is reading again. Back to the fight: the last drone with Pheromancer, minus one armor and the impacts of the second Abomination, was not enough to almost kill the Ravanar. At least I could briefly heal him with the Sorcerer in between, otherwise, that would have gone wrong, but my monster stood in the zone and said, "This is my zone." Otherwise, my Efreet managed to fail their Bloodlust roll twice on the flank, but they still couldn't make the charge. In the middle, or where the remnants of the left Gholes were, Bond Clones came to help and only did one damage. That was enough to hold, but my Bakasura was able to kill the last standing FGD in contact with the Gholes and return to the zone. It went kind of well for me. Well, sort of.

I still hadn't mastered the correct sequence of characters for Jadooo, rituals, etc., and so there were indeed two rituals, but only because I was allowed to place markers there through the Maharajah. If I had just positioned the mages a bit higher, I could have achieved it without the Supremacy, but somehow I always forget that. But on the left flank, it was time for the Flamecasters to show what they could do after the small Sworddancers were destroyed by FGD with the explosive thing. 8 hits for me, two for the drones, that was too much. The Flamecasters then only inflicted two pitiful damage because Move Shoot simply isn't good enough with Volley two despite Jadoo. 25:16.

Round 6, and my last card in the previous round was a ritual. So three actions for the top card for me if it's an Elemental. I got to start, drew the Efreet, and immediately recognized the mistake in my plan. Last round, I had to charge because I was a bit too close. There, I rolled a one for the charge, so I wasn't really any closer. More importantly, if I mess up the Resolve on the 4, then I have to charge again immediately, and my plan to move into perfect range of the Abomination and especially out of the forest is doomed. So I roll for Bloodlust and get a 6. At least there was a 5 for the charge that I need, but without Impacts, Inspire, and Jadooo, there was nothing I could do.

Rene was confused and activated the Abomination, which took more damage from the Aura of Death than from the Efreet and slew the Ravanar. As a result, I got to make hits into the flank of the Brutes, and they were out of the game. I celebrated this greatly, as I felt it was a reasonable trade. Then, I performed a ritual, giving the Sorcerer a free spell action. That was enough to kill the Abomination, and if the next FGD with the explosive thing hadn't simply slain the block of Rajakur with the Sorcerer, I would have been satisfied. Because the Efreet didn't see the FGD, and I had Bloodlust. In other words, the FGD denied me the zone, and if I missed the Bloodlust roll, things would move forward. But that was a problem for a later round.

In the center, the Gholes perished to the uninspired Bond Clones, who then ran alongside the Bakasura. However, he wasn't interested in playing with them but rather moved, charged, and clashed into the Bond Clones with the Biomancer, achieving it effortlessly. It was a massacre, and I realized once again that I hadn't activated Jadoo. On the flank, he didn't need it, and the Bond Clones simply perished. Overall, his army disintegrated more rapidly than mine, and on the right, I still had the Rajakur and Flamecaster against two FGD regiments, with only one of them equipped with an explosive creature. What could possibly go wrong? Well, first, the Flamecasters perished to the last explosive drone, and then the Maharajah went berserk, with clashes and Burn to Cinders, annihilating the first FGD block. 33:24.

Round 7, my large block of Efreet ran towards the table edge twice because I messed up the Bloodlust roll on the 4. At least his FGD bounced off the Rajakur, and my Bakasura went into a zone. Then, there were three Burn to Cinders, and I had two zones while he had one. For fun, we checked what the Efreet would do, and the Bloodlust rolls were cruel enough for them to cuddle up against a table edge again... The rule is supposed to be positive. I don't see where.

Victory for the Paper Army, and a few more thoughts on the army list:

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

• Burn to Cinder packs quite a punch when you meet the requirements for it. Maybe I should consider putting it on the Sword Dancers, but I don't think it will make much of a difference. Additionally, Bloodlust is extremely annoying.
  

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

• Due to my own incompetence, it hasn't been utilized effectively. You have to apply the buff to the regiment first, then draw a ritual, and only then use the Sword Dancers if you want to benefit from the third action. Time isn't always available for this sequence.
  

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

• Court of Air is fantastic. I like the Reform action, and I think it will work very well with other elements. However, I also want to try out the Court of Fire. At first glance, it seems too slow, as using a different regiment for scoring purposes means the crucial regiments don't have to be pulled forward. On the other hand, all the mages want to be in the zones. It's a tough decision.
  

Einheiten:

• Rajakur (3) [120]: I should have read it; then I would have known that the drones make hits to the side. That kills Rajakur easily.
  
• Ghols (3) [110]: Born of Flame: Incompetent fools. I might still want to keep one for the reinforcement line, but I still think they're really bad.
  
• Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260] & Rakshasa Ravanar (1) [240]: Both monsters have done an excellent job, and the Ravanar has performed well against the Brutes. Not surprisingly with Fiend Hunter... However, it really bothers me that he doesn't have the additional +3 charge against Brutes. Monsters aren't encountered as frequently, and they usually have enough evasion that Cleave 2 doesn't matter. We'll see.
  
• Efreet Sword Dancers (5) [270] & Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]: I like the guys, a bit pricey, but overall usable. It's just that Bloodlust is really annoying, and if you don't steer them directly towards their target, strange things happen.
  
• Efreet Flamecasters (3) [160]: 3 games and they never did anything. I find them currently the least meaningful selection in my list. Even for Ghols, I have an application. Any tips for that?
  
  Overall, I'm still satisfied. However, many positive outcomes only occur because my opponents don't actually know what I'm doing.