Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Hello and welcome to the final match report from the Bremerhaven May tournament.
First off, here's my army list again:
Sorcerer Kings [2000/2000]
- Raj [160]: Shu'laat, Bound to the Elements
- Efreet Sword Dancers (5) [270]
- Ghols (3) [110]
- Steelheart Djinn (3) [190]
- Steelheart Djinn (3) [190]
- (Warlord) Maharajah [120]: Court of Fire
- Rajakur (3) [120]
- Sorcerer [130]: Eye of the Blazing Tempest, Court of Fire
- Efreet Flamecasters (3) [160]
- Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]
- Rajakur (3) [120]
- Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]
I played against Lars with his Nords. He had specially painted figures for his army in the days leading up to the game, and just before the tournament, he completely changed everything and came with a completely different and more unusual and unpainted list:
Nords [2000/2000]
- Shaman [80]:
- Raiders (3) [110]:
- Sea Jotnar (1) [240]:
- (Warlord) Volva [100]:
- Valkyries (5) [240]:
- Konungyr [160]: Wolf, Lessons of the Jotun War
- Huskarls (5) [290]: Standard Bearer, Skald, Thegn
- Bow-Chosen (5) [330]:
- Ice Jotnar (1) [260]:
- Mountain Jotnar (1) [190]:
Three blocks, three Jotnars, the Volva as Warlord – my initial thought was: How did he win two games with that? Moreover, Lars completely annihilated his two opponents and then won the scenario. On the other hand, Drizzt has been advocating for blocks for a while, and Lars tablet Uziel in the second game. Regarding the Volva, we all agreed that there were better choices, but Lars enjoys playing her. Usually with trolls, raiders, and Bow Chosen, but after I trolled his trolls hard in the test game (pardon the bad pun), he switched the list to this one. Essentially, it's a solid idea: Two blocks meant to hold ground, ranged attacks that force the opponent to come to us, and Jotnars to then smash the opponent.
For the scenario, we played Bulwark and had a field-dividing house and many forests, as we agreed that fields followed the rule of forests.
Round Two: I got to place both Rajakur, one Sword Dancer, and Flamecaster into my deck. Lars could include the Huscarls and Raiders in his deck, leaving me with eight cards for all three characters while Lars had only five. Lars started and tried to delay important activations since only characters were at the top. I placed my Maharajah on the far left, followed by the Sword Dancers, and my Ghols attacked the objective for one damage. In return, his Bow Chosen dealt one damage, and his Raiders appeared behind them. Then, I placed two Conflagrations, and his Huscarls had to come onto the field. They advanced on the right side, and I decided to position my Sorcerer with the Rajakur there as well. If I wanted to push him out of that zone, I needed Sandstorm. This would largely render the Eye useless, but so be it. I added a third ritual and also brought the Flamecaster into play on the right flank. I have three rituals with 2, 1, 1 in play.
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Round Three: The rest of my army went into my deck, and Lars added everything except the Mountain Jotnar to his. The situation looked decent. Lars would most likely secure the central objective this round, and I aimed to hold the left zone, worth four points. Neither of us would take the right zone, as Lars couldn't get enough stands there, and my Ghols would prevent it. The objective needed to remain intact this round to limit Lars' actions next round. Therefore, I placed my Raj and the new cards on top, followed by the left flank and lastly the right flank. Bakasura went at the very bottom, positioned away from the Sea Jotnar.
Lars started with some token activations from characters and attempted to destroy the central objective marker. However, the Raiders failed with their impacts, leaving the objective alive for another round. The Bow Chosen rolled a one on their first attempt, leaving the objective with one life. Then, a lot of units advanced. On the far left, my second Sword Dancers faced the Ice Jotnar. In the middle, my Windmaidens squared off against the Sea Jotnar, with the Valkyries between the two giants. The Raj and the Maharajah moved into zones to place ritual markers. I dealt one damage to the objective and moved the Flamecasters closer to the Huscarls. The Sorcerer told the Ghols they counted as two extra stands, ensuring Lars couldn't score there. Finally, the Bakasura appeared on the far right, avoiding the Sea Jotnar. Thanks to the previous test game, Bakasura was wary of the Sea Jotnar. I took a slight lead with five rituals: 3, 3, 1, 1, 1. Completing a Conflagration due to two zone markers, I added it to my deck. 4:0.
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Round four: We each had all cards in our decks. I wanted the right zone, and to achieve that, the objective had to be destroyed with my eleventh card. Otherwise, the Huscarls could advance. To hold the zone, I needed the Bakasura and the third action from the ritual to kill the Huscarls. This put me in a bind since the two Jotnars on the left side could attempt something absurd. If Lars, for instance, decided that the Ice and Sea Jotnar would simply attack the objective in the zone with a Move Charge, it would be very troublesome, especially as the last activations, forcing me into an unwanted situation. So, I had to make Lars believe I was saving my ritual for the Sword Dancers. I checked the distance to the Bow Chosen, and they were clearly out of realistic Move Charge range but also out of shooting range. As long as the objective was intact, they couldn't advance either. I then considered how bad it would be to throw my Sorcerers into the fray. Very bad if the Bow Chosen hadn't activated yet. But manageable if they had. Accordingly, I built my deck: Raj, Sorcerer, Windmaiden, Sword Dancer, Rajakur, Windmaiden, Rajakur, Maharajah, Ghols, Sword Dancer, Flamecaster, Conflagration, Bakasura.
Lars began, and we revealed characters and distributed some buffs. I didn't start a new ritual, as I wanted two next round. The Sorcerer wished the Ghols counted as two stands more. His Raiders then destroyed the central objective, and the Bow Chosen shot a stand of Sword Dancers from the large block. I used the small Sword Dancers and the first Windmaiden as decoys, then sent the Rajakur into the flank of the Raiders. Despite Evasion 2, two stands died, and the Bow Chosen and the Sea Jotnar were blocked. Next, the second Windmaiden went into the Bow Chosen with a Move Charge, hopefully forcing them into a Clash action next round. The subsequent shooting from the Sea Jotnar was manageable thanks to the forest. Overall, things went as planned this round. On the left flank, the Ice Jotnar moved and charged into the Sword Dancers, while his Valkyries marched forward slightly. Thus, I continued to hold the left zone and only moved my units forward a bit.
On the other flank, the Huscarls reformed early, and shortly after, his Mountain Jotnar appeared on the right flank. Since the Ignite Ghols and Bakasura were enough to hold the zone, I decided to destroy the objective with the Ghols. This allowed the Flamecaster to shoot at the Huscarls with Aiming, but they failed, with only two hits that were saved. Conflagration resulted in a nice Sandstorm, and the Bakasura started killing Huscarls. Despite R4 Fearless, three stands died. Both zones were worth seven points, and I completed two of my four rituals, both Conflagration. 14:3
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Round five: I simply needed to hold all zones for three more rounds to win. Easier said than done, with three Jotnars eager to ruin my day. If I killed the Huscarls on the right side, the king would get to pamper the Bakasura with eight attacks, and then the Mountain Jotnar would follow. Not good. So, the Huscarls should die late, but on the other side, I was blocking not only the Nords' army but also myself. It would have made sense to place the Sword Dancers at the top, but if Lars killed the small Sword Dancers with the Ice Jotnar beforehand, I'd have a problem. So, I put the Windmaidens up twice, followed by the Rajakur, Sorcerer, Raj, Rajakur, Maharajah, Bakasura, Conflagration, Sword Dancer, Sword Dancer, Ghols, Flamecaster, and Conflagration.
Lars started, and the Ice Jotnar slew the Sword Dancers with Inspire. In return, I took out one stand of Bow Chosen, and he took out my Windmaidens. At least I immediately moved the second ones in, so the Sea Jotnar continued to stagnate for another round. The shooting from the Sea Jotnar was manageable again, and then the Valkyries attacked the objective. Lars would regret this much later in the round, as they were now within Sandstorm range. Sandstorm, Molten Blades, two Burn to Cinders, and the Reform, Charge Clash killed the Valkyries and secured the zone for another round.
On the other side of the table, the Bakasura took a heavy beating and was then forced to kill the Huscarls. Unfortunately, this happened before the Mountain Jotnar activated, but it did some damage to the Bow Chosen. Moreover, the path was now clear for the Ghols to charge him in the flank. Together with the Flamecasters, they managed to deal six damage. 21:3
Round six: I brought Intrusive Thoughts into the deck. Since my last card was a ritual, I wanted the Flamecasters to shoot down that annoying Jotnar and secure the left flank permanently for the Sorcerer Kings. Somehow, another Jotnar also needed to die, but without them moving, there wasn't much to gain. So, the plan was to continue holding off and push the Rajakur of the Sorcerer into the Bow Chosen. Then, see what develops. The deck order was Flamecaster, Ghols, Sorcerer, Rajakur, Windmaiden, Rajakur, Maharajah, Raj, Intrusive Thoughts, Sword Dancer. The middle was somewhat improvised, but at the time, I couldn't think of anything better.
I started and the Flamecasters aimed and dealt four damage. Okay, I hadn't expected that, and I had forgotten that I had a third action. I remembered this several activations later. His Mountain Jotnar tried to slay the Ghols without Inspire, and one remained standing. In return, it did no damage to the Jotnar. Somewhat disheartened, we turned to the left flank. There, the Bow Chosen slew the Windmaidens and were once again tied up by the Rajakur. Just tied up, so the Sea Jotnar would continue to be cursed into inaction. Instead, it moved to the side and tried to charge the Rajakur of the Maharajah. It succeeded, and with impacts and the volley action, the regiment was badly battered. Subsequently, the Ice Jotnar turned and destroyed the objective with its impacts. In an attempt to cast an ice armor, it failed, and I had the choice of where to send my Sword Dancers. Even without Molten Blades, because I didn't make the roll. Therefore, I decided on the flank of the Sea Jotnar, who was sent home. At least the Nords didn't get any points because Intrusive Thoughts went on the Ice Jotnar. 25:3
Round seven: If Lars started this round and scored in both zones, he would win, as that would bring him exactly to 25 points. In Bulwark, there is no zone worth two extra points in round ten, so we built our decks. For me, the only important thing was to take out the Mountain Jotnar. So, Flamecaster and Ghols went to the top. The rest didn't matter. Lars began, the Mountain Jotnar slew the Ghol in front of him and moved into the Flamecaster. Three damage from the impacts wasn't enough. However, they managed to slay the Jotnar in close combat, and on the left flank, my army perished. Lars couldn't catch up anymore, resulting in a victory for the Sorcerer Kings.
Besides me, only Old Dominion remained undefeated. Since Hazlia's legions had previously slaughtered the Lübeckers, I was quite sure it would only be enough for second place. However, the sermon about Hazlia apparently affected them so much that they couldn't secure any further victories. Some would say that Old Dominion is currently so overpowered that it's demoralizing to play against them, but I believe it was simply due to the players' internal conflicts about whether they should devote themselves to worshiping Hazlia. Consequently, I had a better Strength of Schedule (SoS) and won with the Sorcerer Kings. Nevertheless, I currently don't find the Sorcerer Kings particularly strong. I elaborated on this more in the third game report of the last tournament, and I won't repeat it here.
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