Tournament Battlereport from 2. Eroberung der Scheune Game 3: Hundred Kingdoms against Spire

Overview:
Game 1 
Game 2
Game 3

Hello everyone,

somewhat belatedly, here is the report on the third game from Bedburg. During the tournament, Nauth informed me that he had played early against Old Dominion and was thus spared from further matches. In contrast, I faced Spire and hoped for similar luck, but instead I went straight up against Prime Spire. No, not Redbeard; he lost his title to Nick in the second round and was full of vigor and energy at the table. Well, almost. It was warm outside, and we played in the sun, so I didn't upload a photo of Nick because he looked quite exhausted. I wasn't faring any better, but Marco had opened the doors and we got some airflow.

Here is my army list again

== Warlord Priory Commander Sealed Temple [110]:
* Order of the Sealed Temple 3 [205]: Standard Bearer
* Order of the Sealed Temple 3 [205]: Standard Bearer
* Order of the Ashen Dawn 3 [265]: Standard Bearer
* Order of the Ashen Dawn 3 [250]:

== 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]:

== Priory Commander Crimson Tower [160]: Olefant's Roar, Long Lineage
* Order of the Crimson Tower 4 [295]: Standard Bearer

And of course, Nick's army list:

Kranplätze müssen verdichtet sein [2000/2000] The Spires The Directorate == High Clone Executor [130]: Infiltrator Variant, Overtax Nervous System, Disperse * Force-Grown Drones (3) [90]: * Vanguard Clone Infiltrators (3) [170]: == (Warlord) Biomancer [140]: Master of Flesh * Force-Grown Drones (3) [90]: == Lineage Highborne [140]: Attracting Pheromones * Avatara (3) [165]: * Avatara (3) [165]: * Incarnate Sentinels (3) [210]: * Siegebreaker Behemoth (1) [190]: == Pheromancer [100]: Avatar Projection * Stryx (3) [120]: * Stryx (3) [120]: * Brute Drones (3) [170]

Nick's current favorite list is solid on several fronts. However, we played Off Balance, so I was only concerned about the usual Biomancer tricks and his significantly higher number of lights.

In the first round, I had a déjà vu. Same board, two crossbows on one side and opposite, two Stryx. Well, he also had nasty infiltrators that he placed centrally to apply pressure promptly. Things moved quickly, and we went straight into round two, where I received a regiment from Sealed Temple, the Man at Arms, and the remaining crossbows. I deliberated longer on whether I could risk capturing the VCI in round 3, but presumably, he would then pull away with the points, so I moved the Sealed Temple to the left zone and positioned my remainder there, while the central crossbows fell back. Nick also positioned himself, and both scored in respective zones because the Biomancer said the VCI like scoring

In round three, I got Ashen Dawn and Sealed Temple, while Nick drew the rest of his list. So far, we had only engaged in a nice positional game, and I couldn't afford to surprise him in the center yet, as I still lacked the necessary elements. Additionally, I had an intense fear of the VCI simply shooting down my riders. Strangely, I'm less afraid of slingers, but those must be some very old traumas. With Double Time, I early deployed my Man at Arms into the left zone, and we just positioned ourselves. Nick actually set everything up on the right flank or in the center, with only a unit of Avatara slightly towards the left zone. After the last experiences with Sealed Temple, the Avatara also weren't keen on a charge clash with Blessed, so we just glared at each other menacingly. 

Nick then decided to charge my Man at Arms with a regiment of FGD, succeeded, and thereby blocked my riders. I was mostly unconcerned because I hoped to free myself up in the next round. My first Ashen Dawn and the other Sealed Temple moved to the right side but kept their distance from the VCI, who thus only slightly lightened the objective by one hit point. Once again, we both scored one zone each, and the score remained tied.

In round four, I built my deck while Nick went to get us some drinks. Afterwards, he reminded me about the Ashen Dawn card next to the Ashen Dawn on the field and that I could also roll for my Reinforcements and put them in the deck if I wanted to, of course. A bit distracted, I got all the cards and rearranged my deck. Nick's deck-building also took longer, and basically, almost nothing happened again, except for a very intense positional game where we looked at trays to see where we definitely didn't want to be standing. 

Nick's Incarnates secured the objective, and I failed to simply kill the FGD on the left side. That gave Nick some breathing room, which I didn't want, so with my last activations, I bluntly placed my Ashen Dawn and Crimson Tower in the center. Okay, that's a lie; I obviously had a plan, positioning them so that the Incarnates couldn't charge the Crimson Tower but could charge him. I intended to start Supremacy next round and just plain hurt Nick. 

Before I did that, though, the Ashen Dawn on the far right went into the Stryx and wiped them out with impacts. Then they retreated three inches. He had that damned objective and was leading with four points, but I was pretty sure I would break through next round.

We built our decks and discussed for quite a while. Well, for our standards, we still had over 100 minutes left, so there was no rush. I explained that I was definitely going to trigger Supremacy, give Blessed to the Sealed Temple, and Hardend to the Ashen Dawn. Nick asked if the guy in the Crimson was my Warlord, and I confirmed because that was usually always the case. That was a mistake, but I only realized it later when we were more relaxed having dinner in the evening.

Nick started, and the Siegebreaker got UE and Burnout and crashed into the first Ashen Dawn. It killed two stands, and then I handled the left flank. There, I first eliminated the FGD with the crossbows, and then the Man at Arms engaged the Stryx. Nick hadn't expected that so early. Even when I activated my Crimson Tower ahead of his Incarnates and simply removed them from the board, things looked pretty good for me despite being behind on points. However, Nick withdrew the Avatara to the left and used Move Charge to throw them into the Crimson Tower. Somehow, he didn't want them to escalate completely, and the rest of his army moved forward to prevent me from reaching the zone easily. The Ashen Dawn didn't accomplish much, nor did the Sealed Temple, so we just positioned ourselves.

In the end, an Ashen Dawn dealt three damage to the Siegebreaker, but overall, it was rather contained.

Round six, the Crimson Tower needed to break free urgently because I feared the VCI would otherwise shoot them down. Nick started, and the VCI, buffed with Deadly and UE, shot down three stands. Nick's hit count wasn't particularly dramatic, but those seven sixes were definitely painful. We looked at each other and calculated: If the Warlord, who wasn't actually the Warlord, died, I would be in serious trouble. As I calculated, it wouldn't get better than a draw, even if I took his Warlord next round. Plus, I couldn't get the Siegebreaker under control, who would secure the objective next round or the one after. Therefore, we agreed on a draw and played it out.

My Crimson Tower failed against the Avatara, and similarly, the Avatara failed against the Crimson Tower. A glimmer of hope arose, but Nick threw the second unit of Avatara in front of the Ashen Dawn. In their charge without impacts, they only managed to kill two, thus blocking my path to the VCI and any hope of reaching the zone next round.

As expected, the Siegebreaker slew the Ashen Dawn and moved towards the marker. Initially, I planned to send the Sealed Temple and crossbows after him, but instead, I used them to engage the Avatara. If I could kill them, the Crimson Tower would be free. Otherwise, the line of sight to the Crimson would be blocked, which was also beneficial. The other Sealed Temple considered a Move Charge against the Biomancer's regiment, but I deemed the risk of rolling a 6 too great. Therefore, I only maneuvered into position, and Nick maintained his lead of four points.

In round seven, my deck construction became quite complicated. We still had more than enough time, and starting would have been great because then the annoying Biomancer would be dead. Nick began, and the Biomancer activated the Avatara first, who killed the Crimson Tower and then the VCI, shooting at my Ashen Dawn before withdrawing. At least I managed to kill his Warlord with the Sealed Temple as well. Next round, I had to secure the objective, but I also had to kill the VCI. It was all quite annoying, and then the Siegebreaker took the other objective, showing me how tight time really was. Eight points behind and too many tasks to accomplish. I tried to beat up the Avatara who had killed my Crimson Tower, and the Sealed Temple failed again. Thanks to the help of the crossbows, they were half-dead. Nick risked a clash and retreat with one Avatara near the Ashen Dawn, and it wasn't my Ashen Dawn's turn next. As a result, Phero could lower my defense by one and charge into the boys. One died, and the zone was far away again. My crossbows from the left flank made their way to the central objective, and I hoped to get there early enough to still secure it.

In round eight, I got to start, and the Ashen Dawn nearly wiped out the Brute Drones. But only nearly. In retaliation, despite Blessed, my Ashen Dawn were reduced to one stand. The Siegebreaker turned around to claim the zone immediately. I managed to kill the VCI with the Sealed Temple, but the others continued to fail against the Avatara. So I was hardly any closer to my goal of holding the zone. Those five points for both zones would have been really helpful, but somehow Nick wasn't willing to let me have them. Sneaky Spire.

In round nine, the Ashen Dawn died, the Sealed Temple failed against the eternal Avatara, and the others killed the Brute Drones. Nick used Burnout and pushed the Siegebreaker into the Sealed Temple and thus into the zone. Thanks to Move Charge, only one died, but it reduced the point difference to six. 

In the final round, I finally killed the eternal Avatara, but the Siegebreaker also killed the other Sealed Temple. Since I could only deny his zone but urgently needed the objective, the crossbows went into the zone, and the Temple secured the objective for the draw.

That was enough for third place at least, and we went out with some of the participants to have something delicious to eat.

Review of the Army Composition

Warlord Priory Commander Sealed Temple: This is the Warlord Commander! Very important. It gives the Sealed Temple enough firepower to take out serious targets, and since you have to include him anyway, he's there.

Warlord Imperial Officer + Man at Arms: Is now mainly used to position my Man at Arms in a zone in round 2. He does that well, and with Bastion, the block for 200 is reasonably stable. Overall, I expect more, and I am increasingly dissatisfied with him. The fact that he has no option to let Lights score makes me grumpy.

Order of the Sealed Temple: They didn't do much, but always a bit. And most importantly, with a banner, they have an absurd theoretical threat zone that no one wants to enter. For the current 205 points, in my opinion, they are our best medium unit because they can fight and are stable. The only problem is they heavily rely on the charge.

Order of the Ashen Dawn: Best unit of the faction. I didn't need that one banner, but having it was better than needing it. Theoretically, the list would have been better if I had left out the Crimson and simply bolstered the Ashen Dawn. But even so, the Ashen Dawn were, as always, the anchor of the army.

Order of the Crimson Tower with Olefant's Roar: The Commander is included here. For almost 500 points, this is probably the regiment with the highest damage output of the Hundred Kingdoms, and the fact that I almost wiped out the ridiculously good Incarnate block in one round speaks for itself. With Blessed, it would be even better, but Sealed Temple and Ashen Dawn are usually the more sensible choices. They could compete with Ashen Dawn if they had D4 instead of D3 shields. This makes them much more vulnerable, but I’ve been saying for a long time that natural D4 is simply too good.

Mercenary Crossbowmen: Only three ranged regiments with the poor shots of the Hundred Kingdoms are enough to kill heavily weakened enemies and objectives. Overall, though, I miss my Veteran Hunter Cadre or just more stuff that can deal two or three damage to the enemy.

Overall, this is a list I might play again, but three heavies are always tricky. You always want to choose Ashen Dawn, and Crimson Tower desperately need the charge to engage. That would be fine if they had Flank. On the other hand, I could have just played more boldly against the Spire, but I'm just too scared of Deadly shooting. It always feels like they deal more damage than I'd like.