Tournament Report from the 4th Badisch Conquest Game 3 Sorcerer Kings vs. City States

Hello,

in the last game, I was paired against Kilian, and I conceded. My English is not just bad; that's putting it kindly. Although I practice a bit on Duolingo, Nick, Nino, and Uziel like to make fun of my English, which doesn't really help my confidence in the language. Additionally, there are the horror stories from Wuetty and Moritz about tournaments and rule issues, which make me not keen on discussing unclear Conquest rules in a foreign language, where it feels like 99% of the words are missing to express what I mean. On Discord, I always have the translator running in the background, and for the blog, I have someone at home who worked in America and speaks the language fluently. So, I would rather enjoy a sparkling water and watch Uziel either beat someone up with Dweghom or get beaten. Since Konrad wanted everyone to have three games, he changed the pairing again and matched me with DonKihot. As mentioned in the first game report, he only played in English but seemed to speak perfect Swiss German.

For better clarity, here is my army list once 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]

 DonKihots Armylist:

The City States [2000/2000]
== (Warlord) Ipparchos [120]: Inscription of Impact Resistance
 * War Chariots (Skorpios) (3) [390]:
 * Companion Cavalry (5) [260]: 
 * Companion Cavalry (3) [160]: 

== Polemarch [155]: Atalanta's Spear, Inscription of Lighter Alloys
 * Minotaur Haspists (3) [180]: 
 * Minotaur Haspists (3) [180]: 
 * Minotaur Thyreans (3) [190]: 
 * Hoplites (8) [365]: Dorilates, Minotaur Haspist Auxiliary

I only knew an Ipparchos as a Warlord in theory, and I had only seen a large cavalry block with Stephan from Hildesheim. In addition, there were three chariots and a more or less standard Polemarch Warband. With 12 cards, and apart from the Hoplite block, everything else was not really more stable than mine. But we were playing head-to-head, and I couldn't just push the Hoplites out of the zone. Maybe he would deploy them in a narrow formation, then that would work well, but it was too early for such plans.

In the first round, I played alone since I was the only one with Lights. So, the Ghols moved towards the large zone, and we started the second round. Once again, I only rolled for one additional selection and chose the Raj with the Sword Dancers. The Sorcerer with Raj came automatically, and for DonKihot, there were the Hoplites, two chariots, and two units of Haspits. We both placed everything on the left flank in front of the large zone, and he placed one unit of Haspits on the right side. The Sorcerer successfully cast Ignite, the Ghols moved into the zone in the forest. Unfortunately, there were only two rituals with one or two markers. 3:0

In round three, the City States got the rest of their army, and I still didn't have a plan. The fact that he played the Hoplites five wide bothered me a bit. So, I decided to move the Ghols and Raj up and focus on bringing troops onto the battlefield first. I could come up with a plan later. DonKihot seemed to think similarly, and for a long time, nothing happened. The Ghols retreated, started rituals, and on the right flank, Haspits marched forward along with the Thyreans, a chariot, and the large cavalry block. His small cavalry appeared on the left. I was more or less fine with this and brought everything onto the right flank and placed Bakasura in the middle. Then the chariots shot at the Ghols. They only had four dice, and while one failed, the other rolled eight ones, and I didn't make any armor saves. Unexpectedly and annoyingly, the Ghols were thus broken. As a result, the Sorcerer couldn't heal them, and the Haspits charged in with Move Charge and ended their existence on this plane. So, on the left, with the Sword Dancers, I had the choice of going into the front of the Haspits or charging into the chariot. Although the Hoplites could reach me with a Move Charge, this might open the flank for Bakasura. So, I went for the chariot and managed one hit, which at least caused two damage. The Hoplites dutifully followed with Move Charge and held the zone. One Conflagration was completed, and another had three markers on it, with two on Intrusive Thoughts. I managed this only because the Maharajah had his little toe in the right zone. I couldn't score this zone, but for ritual markers, that didn't matter. 3:5

Round four, and I got to add the last Wind Maidens to the deck. It would also be nice to go first, as the Wind Maidens would then be able to flank the Haspits. Instead, the City States got to start and went into the Flamecaster.

The Flamecaster, intimidated by the failure of the Sword Dancers, surprisingly made many saves, and only one of their comrades fell. Then I brought the other Wind Maidens onto the battlefield on the left side, as I no longer had any urgency on the right flank. His small cavalry attacked my large Sword Dancer block to spread Dread, and they were activated by the Raj. Combat Reform Clash, and the first chariot and one pony were dead. His second Haspits charged my Wind Maidens on the left side, and we activated some of our units. The Flamecaster struck the right Haspits, Burn to Cinder in the flank, and Sword Dancer in the front were enough to kill them. Then his chariots shot at my army, and we moved a bit. As expected, the Conflagration with a Bakasura was at the bottom, and his large cavalry block was too. Although I lost the large Sword Dancers, I was slightly ahead in the card race this round. The Wind Maidens on the right flank charged into a chariot, and my Sorcerer with the Rajakur into another. Then a Sandstorm with Conflagration on the Hoplites, and DonKihot was convinced that the Bakasura wanted to go in there.

That was an option if the damn horses didn't move forward. If they didn't move forward, I would simply lose because he would then pull ahead with points. Especially since we had already been playing for almost two hours because we were speaking in English, and I was seriously struggling to make everything as understandable as possible. And, of course, because the positioning was challenging. Then he decided to send his cavalry into the Flamecaster with Move Charge. Exactly 18" away from the Bakasura. One Flamecaster remained standing, and the Bakasura did the same thing in the third game as in the two before. It went into the flank of a large, nasty block and tore it apart. Due to the special rule Arrogance, that was worth seven points. Additionally, the Bakasura was on the right flank, the Hoplites were blocked by two melees, and only the Haspits stood between me and the small zone in the top right. 14:12

Round five, and I had Intrusive Thoughts in the deck. It was on top with the Bakasura, as I was afraid the Sorcerer might die early. I got to start, killed the Thyreans, and told the Hoplites that they wouldn't score. Then we each cleared one flank, and I moved into the small zone. Since he had nothing in the zone except the Hoplites and everything else was far from the small zones, we stopped. If the Thyreans had started, it would have been closer, but now it was 20:18, and I would score four points each round while he would only score three. Although he could reach the small zone in the bottom right in two or three rounds, I still had two nearly completed rituals and six cards. He only had 4 + strategy deck. Therefore, the Bakasura could either wait or try to take the large zone. Victory for the brave humans with work-bound creatures from another plane.

Kilian finished quite quickly and stood next to most of the game, surprised because, in his opinion, the English was going well. DonKihot said the same and that I had only clarified/asked two or three trivial things in German, and it went okay and smoothly. That didn't match my feeling, and it was basically the most exhausting game I had ever had, probably due to the stress and self-doubt. But hearing from two independent sources that it was okay to play was balm to my battered soul and showed that the practice had paid off a bit. Also, my thesis about the Conquest tournament scene was supported again, that all the terrible and nasty stories about tabletop tournaments were early experiences of players at old GW/40k tournaments. So far, I hadn't encountered any jerks or endless rule discussions at Conquest. Even Nick, whom I complain about out of habit, is nice, at least occasionally.

This was enough for 2nd place, and at the shared meal, Drizzt and DonKihot, we chatted in German, were still there. Unfortunately, most of the others had already gone home, so we ended the evening as a group of five.

Review of the army list:
- Raj [160]: Shu'laat, Bound to the Elements: By now, just a big disappointment. Throughout the entire tournament, he successfully cast two spells and was basically unnecessary.
- Sorcerer [120]: Eye of the Blazing Tempest, Court of Fire: Overall, I healed six or nine health with the Eye. That's nice, but no comparison to Jadoo, which will always be included in the future. Otherwise, she does her job in every game.
- (Warlord) Maharajah [120]: Court of Fire: Burn to Cinders makes him an important character as it can force many hits in one round. By now, I'd like a second one, as I've often used and needed Scorching Scirocco in my recent test games.
Units:
- Rajakur (3) [120]: D2+Shield + Hardened and the free banner make them the ideal unit to house the characters. They almost always want to move anyway, and the small protection + some healing is enough to safely transport the characters to the endgame.
- Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]: The big Bakasura was the big winner, as he was in a flank in every game and ate an important regiment there. He didn't die in any of the games, and I'm considering playing two again, but more mediums would probably be more sensible.
- Steelheart Djinn (3) [190]: Personally, I find them okay. Nothing more and nothing less.
- Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]: The small block is okay, the large one draws a lot of attention but isn't good due to scaling and Movement 5 from the Raj.
- Ghols (3) [110]: Born of Flame: Apart from pushing the reinforcement line forward and getting in the way, they can't do anything. In my eyes, still 30% too expensive for this task. They're not worth more than 80 points, and it's understandable why almost no one plays them.
- Efreet Flamecasters (3) [160]: They weren't outstanding but also not bad. If you disregard Slingers, VCI, and Bow Chosen, they're actually quite good. Currently still the best ranged unit we have, and even when the Dhanur appear, I'll probably continue to play one or two regiments.
In short, I'm not as satisfied with my current list anymore. This is mainly because I tried double Maharajah and Raj keeps causing me difficulties. The large Sword Dancer block is expensive, I rarely achieve the three successes on 1-3 for his spells, and due to Raj, the block suffers a movement penalty. It's frustrating, even though I find it visually appealing. Maybe I'll test it again if an update addresses these issues.
My current testing list, which wasn't/isn't painted, includes double Maharajah and many MSUs (Multiple Small Units) that only use fire, because Jadoo is just good. Perhaps I'll manage to paint the list by the time of the Bonelem Cup, or I'll play brave humans with sticks there.
If you have comments or questions, feel free to leave them as usual on the blog, on the German Discord, or via PM.