Practice game Infanterie Block of the Hundred Kingdoms against Dweghom

A few weeks ago, we attended the game day in Hildesheim, and as usual, I had packed my brave people with sticks.

Hundred Kingdoms [2000/2000] Relentless Drill

== (Warlord) Imperial Officer [130]: Armor of Dominion, Brace for Impact, On Your Feet
• Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]:
• Men at Arms (3) [105]:
• Steel Legion (4) [245]: Standard Bearer, Drillmaster
• Gilded Legion (9) [445]: Standard Bearer, Drillmaster

== (Warlord) Noble Lord [110]: Front Line Tactician
• Household Guard (9) [405]: Standard Bearer, Armsmaster
• Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [105]:
• Longbowmen (4) [175]:
• Longbowmen (4) [175]:

While Mass and Benjamin are currently focusing and playing with large infantry blocks in Discord, I decided to test a similar list again. Since I only own 9 stands of Gilded Legion and do not plan to acquire more, I have slightly adjusted one of my old lists. I played a similar one more frequently in mid-2023, but the enjoyment of large blocks quickly faded, especially when faced with heavy shooting or magic. With Movement 5 and no further tricks, you quickly fall behind, especially when you have no additional protection available. D3 R3 simply melts too easily. Therefore, I packed regiments in the army that could inflict damage from a distance. Knights would be more sensible, but I consciously decided against them and instead relied on solid shooting to force my opponent to run into my blocks. The theme was ultimately to field a pure infantry army, and depending on my positioning, the longbows could continue to fire with Arcing Fire. Plus, I just like longbows, and with only 10 cards, there are also fewer wasted activations.

Dweghom [1995/2000]

== (Warlord) Tempered Sorcerer [155]: Fire School, Focused
• Fireforged (3) [180]: <--Warlord
• Inferno Automata (3) [180]:

== Tempered Sorcerer [130]: Fire School
• Hold Ballistae (5) [230]: Standard Bearer <--Sorcerer
• Hellbringer Drake (1) [200]:

== Hold Raegh [140]: Draegbhrud
• Initiates (4) [190]:
• Dragonslayers (3) [240]: Standard Bearer Sorcerer
• Ironclad Drake (1) [220]:
• Hold Warriors (3) [130]:

This didn't match what was currently usual for us or in Lübeck, but here we wanted to test a few things. To avoid associating positive thoughts with Dweghom, the double Fire Sorcerer was added as well. Originally, Raegh was supposed to go into the Initiates, but after rolling the "Melee" scenario, Raegh preferred to go into the Dragonslayer. Melee wasn't ideal for my list against Dweghom because I had to give up the points for the Warlord twice and only had four scoring units. Therefore, the movement had to be right. At least my list doesn't have to roll for Heavys or Mediums, and I hoped his regiments wouldn't come onto the board optimally.

In round one, we both received all Lights and advanced. First, a few crossbows ran into the forest, and later I decided to place one unit of Longbows on each side. Since I wanted to score with the Man at Arms in the next round, a regiment of Longbows was allowed to move 18 inches.

In round two, we both received all Mediums. I found this a bit unfair and particularly problematic. With 7:8 cards, I wanted my army to be on the side where there were no mages, but if I placed myself on the right now, there were also dragons and company, or vice versa. Therefore, I decided to place the two melee regiments and the Noble Lord at the top, followed by my shooters. I could have easily scored in the left large and small zones without cover, but 9 stands hardly ever benefited from cover anyway. Perhaps I could build up enough lead this way. Additionally, my regiments on the right side were clearly in my way. So that's what I did and stayed just out of shooting range. Then the Drake and the Sorcerer Warlord marched far to the left, and only a few Warriors and Initiates on the other flank. There were also Automata, but they clearly dared to come too close and made an unpleasant acquaintance with the longbows and crossbows. Score: 7:0.

In round three, we both received all Regiments again. What was the point of paying for Flank if my opponent got it anyway? This made Uziel always feel like he was with the Nords. Oh well. Besides obvious things like longbows shooting down the Automata, there weren't many useful things to do. Saving the other longbows and the Man at Arms would have been something, but otherwise, I couldn't think of anything. The large Household Guard block wanted to move forward as late as possible to receive as little damage from the shooting and none from the fire magic. What I hadn't quite expected was that the Fireforged marched forward first by 10 inches so the Warlord could burn away my Man at Arms and the toad could waddle into the zone. Not bad at all; it could then farm three points for the rest of the game. Maybe the left longbows could shoot them down. Before I got that far, though, the longbows shot down two stands of Ballista and the others took out the Automata, although both regiments were already weakened from the longbows in the previous round. Then there were the Gilded Legion in the center and the Steel Legion on the right. Opposite them was the Ironclad, which didn't look like a toad due to the lack of cannons. Maybe the Gilded Legion could run it, but I didn't have high hopes for that. Otherwise, the Initiates cheerfully marched forward to secure the right flank. Finally, just before my turn, the Ballista arrived. The shooting raining down on the Guard wasn't actually that bad, but still, six wounds. Therefore, and because there was a Sorcerer Warlord there, I briefly considered pulling back the Guard, but at that moment, Nino came to the table and quoted Honecker, so I bravely threw myself into the meat grinder: Forward always, backward never! Score: 11:9.

In round four, I wanted to start doing something, so the Guard was positioned at the top. Above them was the Noble Lord, in case I didn't start first, and of course, I didn't. Sorcerer Warlord, two fire spells, and then the Fireforged as a follow-up activation. Six stands just died. It was sickening, but I activated the Lord, gathered his two stands, and then charged into the Ballista.

The Ballista survived with one life left. This at least blocks the Dragonslayer, so we go through a series of token activations until the Gilded Legion runs into his small zone on the right side with Doubletime. Since the Dragonslayer had already gone, the Warriors tried their luck and, of course, failed. The second Sorcerer only killed one stand of the Household Guard with spells, and finally, the Initiates went into my right crossbows. Not much came of it, but it opened up a flank attack for my Steel Legion, and they were thus in the zone. Initiates burst, Hanna was pleased. Score: 16:12.

In round five, I was slowly running out of scoring regiments. Far left, I still had a few longbows, steadily retreating from the Drake, in the center the half-dead Household Guard, a few crossbows, and the full Gilded Legion. On the right, a stand of crossbows and full longbows and zweihanders. The question was how quickly the Sorcerer would come over, but I didn't want to measure that. Therefore, the Noble Lord went up top, followed by the Household Guard underneath. The longbows and then the rest mixed in. I started, the ballista were still broken, and when the Sorcerer died in the duel, they shattered. So I could run away. The next card was a Sorcerer who simply had nothing in sight and cursed around. Much later, the regiment was shot by the Fireforged. Six victory points that hurt. Then it was the Gilded Legion's turn. I attacked without inspire and made a reform. There was briefly a consideration to go into the Dragonslayer, but it was better to put the Officer on the other side to take the Cleave away from the Drake, who would probably charge. But he failed with a solid 1, and for me, crossbows ran into position to possibly force later charging Dragonslayers nicely into the armor of the Imperial Officer with three stands. Then came the Dragonslayers. They didn't look bad with only one cleave, but still, two stands of the Gilded Legion died. Then my Steel Legion turned and marched toward the Ironclad. Score: 23:21.

Round six is often the end of many games, but here it was just getting started. Or rather, I got to start, and my Steel Legion hit the flank of the Ironclad. Only a handful of hits, but with my right longbows advancing, the monster fell. A glimmer of hope stirred within me. Then the Fireforged positioned the Sorcerer Warlord. And even though I caught two stands of Dragonslayer before they activated, three stands of Gilded Legion fell to the Sorcerer and the Dragonslayers. Far left, my longbows lost the duel with the toad, which still had three lives, and I considered how I could make the Gilded Legion run away next round. Score: 32:26.

Round seven, the Sorcerer started. The Gilded Legion died. Then the Fireforged came, and even one stand of crossbows went home. So much for hope. The Dragonslayers gathered and briefly enjoyed the zone until the right longbows darkened the sky above the forest. After that, we had a dead Raegh and Dragonslayers, but I only had one scoring regiment left and an angry Sorcerer Warlord rolling towards me. Score: 39:37.

Round eight, and despite a slight lead, things didn't look good. The Sorcerer had too many tokens for anything to make a difference, but he didn't enter any zone. At least not this round. So he headed towards the small zone on the right flank, and as the last activation, I decided to move the Steel Legion forward with Doubletime and attempt to charge him next round. Score: 41:40.

Round nine, I got to start. So I charged, but the tokens said no. Then the Sorcerer simply wished away the Steel Legion. After that, he happily scored two zones for two rounds. Score: 39:53.

Closing Thoughts:
The Dweghom played a list with a moderate amount of shooting, but even that was too much. Coupled with the "Melee" scenario featuring only four scoring regiments and two Warlords, it was as challenging as expected. What really bothered me, though, was my poor positioning in the first two rounds. In hindsight, the new Watermage might have been a great addition, as he is now remarkably effective at healing infantry (3 + 1 per success). However, the Warband is rather uninteresting, and I don't like having a 200-point block as support behind my heavy units. Regardless, those are thoughts for another day. Perhaps in the coming days, I'll share a report from the game against Spire with the same list. They were excited to finally see Hundred Kingdoms as an infantry army without ponies.