Hamburg, April 2024: Game 2 - Hundred Kingdoms against Spire at Bulwark

Overview:
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3

The second report from the tournament in Hamburg, and now it's against the dreaded Spire. But before we dive into my escapades of insults about the absolutely cheeky faction, here's my nice army list again:

All you need is love [1500/2000]
Relentless Drill

== (Warlord) Imperial Officer [90]: Brace for Impact, On Your Feet
 * Men at Arms (3) [105]:
 * Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]:
 * Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]:
 * Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]:

== (Warlord) Priory Commander (Crimson Tower) [110]:
 * Order of the Crimson Tower (3) [200]:
 * Order of the Crimson Tower (3) [200]:
 * Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [240]:
 * Order of the Ashen Dawn (3) [240]:

The army list of the Spire was led onto the battlefield by none other than Benjamin (known as Waaghi on Discord)!

His joy at playing against me was almost as great as a visit to the dentist. After all, Waaghi was already accustomed to my very slight dislike of the Spire through Discord, so we could laugh a lot during the game. Although my laughter always fades when, for example, I see a D4 R4 monster with Smite that can easily be brought to Movement 8 Clash 4 and 6 rerolls. Add to that a Biomancer who kindly didn't have the option to activate three regiments per round. Only two, which is annoying enough. And if I recall correctly, currently only those damned aliens are able to activate another regiment besides their own with the activation of a character, and then also theirs. I personally find this completely out of line, and that's still a really friendly statement about it.

Test [1500/1500] - The Spires The Sovereign Lineage

== (Warlord) Lineage Highborne [140]: Cascading Degeneration, Command Pheromones, Pheromantic Override, Attracting Pheromones
• Avatara (3) [180]: Superior Creations
• Avatara (3) [180]: Superior Creations
• Incarnate Sentinels (4) [280]:
• Siegebreaker Behemoth (1) [190]: aka der Shrimp

== Biomancer [155]: Degenerative Aura, Fleshcarver
• Bound Clones (5) [225]: Ward Preceptor
• Abomination (1) [150]:

Well, overall, it's the standard Spire filth. The 5-block also makes sense on the scenarios because he surely wants to park it in a zone and with the Biomancer on D5, he gets it. I don't know where he wants to steal the armor from, but we all have to make compromises at 1500 points.

The scenario played was Bulwark, and the organizer explained to us that we would take a half-hour lunch break after the game. Waaghi and I were hungry, and if we could finish the game in just half the scheduled two hours, we could comfortably walk to the baked potato / kebab stand. That sounded like a plan I would have agreed to if it hadn't come from a Spire. It sounded very much like a trap to devour my helpless, brave humans with sticks or something.

In round 1, I played alone, and my three crossbows headed towards the central marker. The plan for this game was simple: I would secure the middle objective, block his right zone first, and then overrun it. In the left zone, I would place Ashen Dawn, which should keep the objective alive as long as possible before bravely dying. Mathematically, I would win with three or five points without much fighting.

In round 2, I had to put my Man at Arms into the deck, and Benjamin once Avatara du Bound Clones. Deck building was easy because there were few options. Therefore, the objective was destroyed first, the Avatara marched towards the crossbows, and the Bound Clones opposite the crossbows. In response, I positioned my Man at Arms. Nice and wide, so they could block the zone with Double Time in the next round. 3:0

Round 3, and of course, the Spire were allowed to put all their cards into the deck. Miserable aliens with their living dice. I distinctly saw how, at the command of the Biomancer, little hands grew out of the dice and placed them on the right side. Definitely. Well, when humanity faces monsters and nightmares, there are two options: 1. Brave humans with sticks who stand up to them and often die in the attempt. 2. Those whom even darkness itself fears come to the rescue. I mean none other than the greatest heroes of humanity, the last bastion against monsters and nightmares, and the final guardians of the Sealed Temple. So, there were two Ashen Dawn and one Crimson Tower in my deck. Fair, we both had three Heavys, even if the battle shrimp is still way too cheap. A D4 monster for 190 points... well, somehow I digress.

The Spire got to start, taking everything from us, even the initiative, and the Avatara moved with Move Charge into the first crossbows. I was okay with that, and my Man at Arms moved 15" over his objective and blocked the zone. This meant his Bound Clones could find another living room or charge me on five or six. It didn't matter to me as long as he didn't score. Then my characters and crossbows followed, so I could see where Benjamin placed his Heavys. His Avatara, of course, passed almost every protection roll, again due to those hands growing out of the dice. It was getting really cheeky. However, some stuff moved up, and I hoped a little that the shrimp would move to the left flank, but it joined the Bound Clones instead. The Abomination went to the left zone, as Ashen Dawn wanted to appear there, and the Incarnates liked to play there too. That was okay, and I decided to place my two remaining Heavys on the right side. Firstly, to make the objective fall, and secondly, to beat up the Avatara. The last Avatara also appeared on the right. 3:0

Round 4, and the deck building was quite simple. One Ashen Dawn was allowed to be on top, then Man at Arms, crossbows, characters, Crimson and Crimson, and Ashen Dawn downwards. This way, I could react and see what was happening on the field. Maybe the shrimp wouldn't go into the Man at Arms and would go around them. Unlikely, but possible. The brave humans got to start, and the Ashen Dawn failed to slay the Avatara. I looked a bit grumpy at my dice, but shortly after, the crossbows went crazy and got rid of the problem. The true elite of the elite. Almost as good as melee archers. My Man at Arms moved forward and smiled. Instead of the shrimp, who obviously feared the nice knights, the Bound Clones activated, not moving. Only after that, the shrimp got to eat the Man at Arms, and I grabbed the objective and also the zone with the Crimson Tower. The zone was worth 4 points this round. And for the next round, I just had to start before the shrimp or roll well with the Ashen Dawn. Nothing else happened on the flank except for the second Avatara, which again entangled a few helpless crossbows with Move Charge. On the other flank, my second Crimson Tower marched on, and his Incarnates moved towards the zone.

Then came the decision to destroy the objective with the Abomination and allow the Ashen Dawn to attempt a charge or not score. We discussed the possibilities, and I decided to try the charge on a 5 if necessary. I didn't want to go into the zone to deny it unless I also got to eat the Abomination in the process. After all, I already saw that the Highborne could get an extra movement for the Incarnates and then bring them into me with the follow-up activation if I were to come just four inches forward. If that was okay, then he wouldn't be able to reach me easily. After a brief back and forth, our decks were built for the next round, and then the Abomination decided to destroy the objective after all. The Ashen Dawn attempted the charge, succeeded, and slew the monster. Therefore, I scored both zones. 10:3

Round 5, and I activate my Supremacy, as the Liken Ashen Dawn need Hardened. My deck building didn't change. I speculated that he saw the Ashen Dawn as the biggest threat. They were now in auto-charge range of the Incarnates. The other Ashen Dawn and Crimson were within reach of the shrimp. If I don't start and the Ashen Dawn are half-dead, it's no use to me. But if the shrimp goes after the Crimson Tower first, they'll likely explode. At least they always did directly in the past. So, my deck build was Crimson Tower, Ashen Dawn, Crimson Tower, crossbows, characters, and the remaining Ashen Dawn. He started, and the Incarnates killed the first Ashen Dawn. The other two had a total of 7 life left. Annoying. On the other flank, the Crimson Tower got to do the Charge Clash against the shrimp and killed it precisely with Blessed, and for him, the shrimp would have been the next card. Unexpectedly, it wasn't the Highborne, but instead the Avatara who killed the crossbows. I liked that because it allowed me to activate my Ashen Dawn, one died, and the other soloed an Incarnate. Then the Crimson Tower rushed into the flank with Move Charge, taking down another Incarnate, and one was in very bad shape, depending on how the additional clash would turn out. But that was still a long time coming, allowing the crossbows to shoot down another Incarnate. Only then did the additional clash come through Pheromantic Override and cost me the last Ashen Dawn. But I had both zones, and Ashen Dawn with Move Charge could still go into the Bound Clones. 17:3

Round 6, and Benjamin got to start, and the Incarnates, or rather the Incarnate with the Highborne, turned and killed a Crimson Tower. The other Crimson Tower took down the Bound Clones in the Charge Clash, definitively cementing humanity's claim to the right zone. Although there were still Avatara left, they didn't really want to play with Ashen Dawn. On the other side, the Crimson Tower and crossbows managed to kill the Incarnate, ending the game. With that, we were the second pair finished in just over an hour. Uziel and Nino had played against each other and were also done, so the four of us decided to take a trip to the local kebab stand.