As announced, the rematch against Nino's OD took place, this time accompanied by the Paper Sorcerer Kings for a report.
Feuer 🔥 [1990/2000]
== 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]:
== (Warlord) Sorcerer [120]: Parivartan, Court of Fire
* Rajakur (3) [120]:
* Ghols (3) [110]:
* Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]:
* Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]:
== Sorcerer [130]: Eye of the Blazing Tempest, Court of Air
* Rajakur (3) [120]:
I slightly adjusted my list because I really wanted to play the Windsorcerer. However, the Fire Sorcerer has also been very useful in the past few games, so the Maharajah had to make way. I haven't integrated the newly announced Archer yet, but there's already space and ideas for that too.
Variante Mounted [1995/2000]
== (Warlord) Strategos [160]: Legio I 'Primigenia', Aventine Armor, Eternal Discipline
* Legionnaires (3) [100]: Standard Bearer
* Praetorian Guard (5) [275]: Profane Reliquary
== Archimandrite [110]:
* Legionnaires (3) [100]: Standard Bearer
* Legionnaires (3) [115]: Standard Bearer, Optio
* Bone Golems (3) [210]:
* Bone Golems (3) [210]:
== Mounted Strategos [155]: Skofnung, Gladiator
* Kataphraktoi (5) [360]: Standard Bearer, Hetairos
* Legionnaires (3) [100]: Standard Bearer
* Legionnaires (3) [100]: Standard Bearer
Nino played his usual Old Dominion tournament setup, but with a Kataphraktoi block and Hetairos. I was aware that Overrun was allowed twice per round, but I didn't know until this game that impacts could still be made when the opponent is broken.
We played Bulwark, as the table was still set up from the previous games, and we didn't feel like rearranging the terrain or scenario. The zones were numbered, with the one on my left being even, while the right one was odd. By the way, in our games, squares essentially count as forests with a height of 1.
In the first round, I had both Ghols available, while Nino was allowed to deploy his Praetorian block. I sent the Ghols each towards a zone, while Nino positioned the Praetorians on the left side. It was uneventful, as is usually the case in Round 1 against OD.
In the second round, there was only one Rajakur with Warlord added, while the Old Dominion had two units of Legionnaires, with an Archmandrite in one of them. Nino chose to hold back the horses because he knew I tended to score slowly, and my large Sword Dancer block had made a lasting impression in the first game.
My deck construction consisted of Rajakur, Sorcerer, and then the two Ghols to capture two markers. The right Ghols attacked the objective and caused damage, while the left ones failed the Bloodlust roll and then barely made the charge on a roll of 6... Thanks, guys. Just what I didn't want.
In the third round, I got everything except for one Bakasura, and Nino got everything except for the riders and Bone Golems once. Since there was nothing urgent, I decided to initially position the other characters with their units upwards to have two rituals in the deck in Round 4.
So, I placed the large block of Sword Dancers all the way to the left, and Rajakur performed the 9-token ritual. Nino was surprised they came so early, but I hoped this would encourage him to bring in as many regiments as possible on this side. In any case, thanks to Airstep and Elemental, they could still quickly be in the center if needed. However, Nino didn't take the bait and only deployed one unit of Legionnaires on the flank. I consistently failed all spells, only moving forward while sending the small Sword Dancers into the right Legionnaires with a move-charge. Well, 'sending' might be exaggerated, but Bloodlust said 'roll the dice,' and then the charge succeeded. At least there were a few impacts and some damage to the Legionnaires. Then my left Ghols had to activate, and they perished to the Aura of Death. Well, at least that went as expected. The positive side was that nobody scored any points.
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In the fourth round, we both got the rest of our units into play. Since I didn't have any really urgent issues, I used the Sorcerer first, then the Sword Dancers, and finally the other characters. The rest was almost irrelevant to me, but only almost. I placed a ritual on each of a Bakasura and a Sword Dancer, hoping to gain something from it later.
In the first half of the turn, almost nothing happened, except that I destroyed my objective and traded one stand of Sword Dancers for two stands of Legionnaires. With D1 due to the Sorcerer, I had expected a bit more, but since Nino got to start, his Legionnaires were able to take out one of my poor Efreet right at the beginning. Annoying, but not too bad. Worse was that I needed three attempts for Air Step and eventually had to use the auto-successes from Conflagration to apply Air Step to the large Sword Dancers. They were supposed to move through the field towards the center. Since Nino had now turned his Praetorians, I had to be careful not to inadvertently charge into them if I rolled Bloodlust. Therefore, I chose the most unfavorable angle and moved. On the second action, I rolled a five for Bloodlust and a six for the charge. Any other number would have been perfect, as it would have put me in the desired position, but of course, the six meant the charge. At least I was still able to strike, and one stand of Praetorians was taken out of the game, even though I had no impacts and inspire. Unfortunately, the position was far from ideal. Then it was Nino's turn, and my Bakasura considered what to do with his three actions. I secured a zone and originally wanted to be aggressive, but the situation was such that I would have been punished for it. Therefore, I decided to attack the middle objective, destroy it, and then retreat. 8:0.
In the fourth round, Nino still had one damage on his objective, and the second set of Bone Golems had appeared all the way to the right, while I had bundled everything on the left flank. If my Sword Dancers hadn't engaged the Praetorians, I would have been satisfied. But now, in the fifth round, bad things could happen. At least I had two rituals and would probably finish two, maybe even three, for round 6 in this round. After all the playtesting, the rituals were going smoothly, and it was almost always better to start a new ritual than to use extra markers. I only do that now when I can't start any more rituals otherwise.
Unfortunately, I got to start, and I wiped out the Legionnaires all the way to the right. Then followed many token activations. I weakened the armor of the Bone Golems in the center by one, shot one down with the Flamecasters, and initiated a charge with the Ghols against the Legionnaires. They knocked down a few Legionnaires, who then retreated and suffered six damage. Now the path was clear for the Kataphraktoi, and I lost the Ghols and the regiment of my Warlord due to the double charge. Damn, I should have known that, but somehow I was careless. Now Nino had the zone, and I couldn't clear it sensibly. Additionally, it was an odd round, which earned him four points. Doubly frustrating.
Next, one of my Bakasuras was up and went into the Bone Golems, causing 8 damage. Then the last one died to the Aura of Death. Since I constantly have to fight against this Aura of Death stuff, it was an unspeakable inner satisfaction for me when Nino had to draw the next card. Unfortunately, they were Legionnaires who charged into the side of the large Sword Dancer block, with a Priest in the middle who would make it difficult for me to cast spells. Thanks to the Praetorians and the Legionnaires, the block dwindled down to two Sword Dancers, and I saw that time was running out for me. Perhaps I could heal them in the next round so they could somehow hold out until the end of the following round and simply block the path. Then another Bakasura went after the horses. Thanks to the water, it didn't go so well, but at least one horse died. 8:6.
In the sixth round, I had two rituals. The plan was to kill the riders in this round, and for that, I needed the two Sword Dancers on the right and a ritual. However, I had to succeed the Bloodlust roll for that... not a particularly good plan, but the situation on the battlefield wasn't exactly positive either.
So, I placed both Bakasuras up first, then the Flamecasters, and finally the ritual with the Sword Dancers. The rest was almost irrelevant to me. I got to start, and the first Bakasura slew the Legionnaires with the Archmandrite and smiled towards the Strategos. Then, Nino attacked the objective with the Legionnaires on the left, and I got to strike with the second Bakasura. He killed exactly two horses and then got stuck, as he wasn't allowed to advance due to the Flamecasters. Three guesses who was next in line and stomped the Flamecasters: the Kataphraktoi. At least he needed the Clash for that, and I got all the tokens for a ritual, but it was annoying. Then came the ritual, the Bloodlust roll for the Sword Dancers, and finally, I managed to pass one. So, I turned around and performed the Charge Clash for extra fun against the Kataphraktoi. Unfortunately, I only caused five wounds, but I was in the zone. The rest of our troops moved a bit more, and his left Bone Golems positioned themselves for the charge on the objective in the next round. Additionally, the one stand of Legionnaires on the right flank, who had fled from the mighty Ghols, turned around to annoy me in the next round. Then my Raj and the Sword Dancers died to the Praetorians, but this allowed me to complete a third ritual for the next round. 10:6.
In the seventh round, the table was pretty empty, but the Old Dominion still had the Praetorian block. Maybe Nino would be crazy enough to allow me a duel with the Bakasura. Therefore, I planned to send the Rajakur into the Praetorians and then follow up with the Bakasura. Mainly because I hadn't checked what equipment the mounted Strategos had and what his melee profile looked like. Otherwise, I would definitely have sent the Bakasura into the back of the guys first. But I hadn't done that, and when I got to start, Nino inwardly flinched. But I activated the Sorcerer and no Bakasura. They performed a ritual, cast spells on the Praetorians, and then activated the Rajakur. The total damage from the whole action was exactly 1. Then, as his horses performed a reform and struck down my two Sword Dancers, he couldn't help but grin and explain to me what was happening. I looked appropriately impressed. On the bright side, the new ritual was completed as a result.
With both Bakasuras having a third action this round thanks to a ritual, it was time for some Bakasura fun. The one on the right killed the horses with the impacts and then moved out of the zone far enough that the one stand of Legionnaires couldn't get in anymore, but I still held the zone. On the other side, the other Bakasura slaughtered two stands of Praetorians. Nino hadn't expected that, but with Flurry, I turned all 15 attacks into hits because the cowardly Strategos didn't fancy an honest duel with the Bakasura. Then, my Aura of Death caused another 3 damage, and Nino realized he couldn't let his Warlord die to the beast because it would earn me too many points. Besides, they had enough life to simply risk fleeing. So, they took 4 damage to move 10 inches away from the Bakasura. Then, his Bone Golems took out the objective, and his Legionnaires overran my Rajakur in the flank. 14:11.
In the eighth round, Nino got to start, and the Bone Golems charged at the Bakasura. He died to the Aura of Death. Since my other Bakasura couldn't leave the zone, Nino had a little time to position the other Legionnaires. 16:15.
In the ninth round, I had to do something before Nino could activate one of the three relevant units. I positioned myself as best as I could, but the Bone Golems approached with a Move-Charge. I held the zone for 20:17, but then I died to the Aura of Death and lost with 20:22.
Retrospective on Army Composition
Raj [160]: Jadoo Kavach, Bound to the Elements:
- No magic in this game. The Bloodlust killed the one with the Sword Dancers. At least they weren't standing at the back of the battlefield like in other games, shouting at the enemy reinforcement line.
Sorcerer [120]: Parivartan, Court of Fire
- I tossed that one, even though I had hoped to reduce my opponent's armor twice per round with Parivartan, but it wasn't meant to be. I find it funny how excited I am about this spell that the Spire gets for free and can do a few extra things with it.
Sorcerer [130]: Eye of the Blazing Tempest, Court of Wind
- Air Step is great, especially when combined with archers. Here it was helping to strengthen the large Sword Dancer block. But he just bailed. Maybe I'll swap him out for Court of Fire for fluff reasons, but I like having different tools on hand.
Units:
- Rajakur (3) [120]: For once, they didn't hold up. Well, there were only three stands, and one time there was a flank attack, and the other time it was a big block of knights. Against that, they're allowed to die.
- Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]: This time, the two of them really worked, but I also had two and used them offensively. Later on, when the Fire Sorcerer was gone, the damage was significantly reduced.
- Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]: The small Sword Dancers really did a great job and didn't disappoint me. The big ones fell victim to the Bloodlust. Still, I prefer the large block over Rajakur. But that's more about the aesthetics.
Ghols (3) [110]: Born of Flame: They destroyed an objective. Finally, they proved to be useful! I'll only build two regiments because they've been in my five-year-old box.
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