Battlereport 2. Kelpie Con Tournament: Game 1 Sorcerer Kings against Dweghom

Overview
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3

Hi everyone,

The blog "Brave Humans with Sticks" is celebrating its first anniversary this month. Unfortunately, things have been a bit quieter in the past few weeks, and for the first time in a year, there hasn't been a game report from a tournament I participated in. Some of you might have wondered if I lost and that's why I didn't write anything. However, the reason is simply that I only took two or three pictures of the entire event. In the end, though, my brave warriors of the Hundred Kingdoms won the final against Spire!

Another reason for the missing reports is the high pressure at work, which has made it difficult for me to write regularly. I hope this will improve again in November.

I would now like to start my game report on the 2nd Kelpie Con tournament, which took place on the penultimate weekend of October. Since several Hundred Kingdoms players unexpectedly registered, I quickly packed the Sorcerer Kings for more variety.

Sorcerer Kings [2000/2000]

== (Warlord) Maharajah [140]: Shu'laat, Court of Air
 * Dhanur Disciples (3) [140]:

== Sorcerer [130]: Jadoo Kavach, Court of Fire
 * Rajakur (3) [120]:
 * Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]:
 * Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]:
 * Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [260]:

== Maharajah [150]: Niyantran, Court of Fire, Lord of Conflict
 * Efreet Flamecasters (3) [170]:
 * Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]:
 * Rajakur (3) [120]:
 * Efreet Flamecasters (3) [170]:

My list is largely the same as the one I used for the Bone Lem Cup, and since then I've mostly been playing with other factions. The decision to choose the Lord of Conflict instead of the Scimitar was purely based on the points adjustment of the Flamecaster. In hindsight, though, the Scimitar would have been the more reasonable choice.

I briefly considered playing something else, but since I haven't painted the elephant and didn't want to paint the Mahawhatever Initiates at night, I ended up sticking with this list. Besides, in my opinion, the update hardly brought any changes for the Sorcerer Kings.

In my first game, I had the pleasure of facing Felix from near Stuttgart, who made the long journey to the North Sea just to play with us. Naturally, I accepted his challenge and soon realized that I had agreed to a match against Dweghom in the "Head-to-Head" scenario.

Dweghom  [2000/2000]

== Hold Raegh [100]:
* Initiates 6 [280]:
* Dragonslayers 3 [265]: Mnemancer Apprentice, Standard Bearer
* Ironclad Drake 1 [220]:
* Hold Warriors 3 [170]: Herald of Fire, Exemplar

== Warlord Tempered Sorcerer [130]: Earth School
* Fireforged 3 [180]:
* Hold Ballistae 3 [140]:

== Tempered Sorcerer [135]: Fire School, Hellbringer Sorcerer
* Fireforged 3 [180]:
* Hellbringer Drake 1 [200]:

Felix’s list differs a bit from what we usually play here in the North, and it was the first time I faced a Sorcerer Warlord with Earth on the other side of the battlefield. Personally, I haven’t been really convinced by this option so far, but Felix explained his plan to me: He wanted to mess with the opponent's movement using Roots of Stone and annoy regiments like Thunder Riders with Broken Ground. Overall, that sounded pretty solid, and when he also mentioned that he knows my list and the units in it very well and regularly plays against such setups, I started feeling a bit uneasy.

Since I don’t have any Lights, Felix sets up his Ballista, and we jump straight into round two. I get my Dhanur and both Rajakur, while Felix brings in his Hold Warriors and Fireforged with his Earth Sorcerer.

As I doubt I can break through effectively in the large zone, I prepare Intrusive Thoughts and two Conflagrations and position my Sorcerer in the large zone. Maybe later, I can sneakily grab a character with a Bakasura. On the same side, his Warriors are marching up, and his Warlord moves into the center. I decide to place my Warlord and the second Maharajah in the small zone because Hanna needs Ritual Tokens for fun and games in round four. By the end of round two, the score is 0:0, and all three of my rituals already have two markers.

In round three, Felix draws all his cards except for the Fireforged and Initiates with Raegh. I have to wait for my second Bakasura and a Sword Dancer. Since I can't effectively prevent him from scoring, I decide to use my mages as a placeholder activation up top and move the Rajakur and the Bakasura downwards. As expected, his Warriors push into the zone, supported by the nearby Ballista. I collect markers, and the Dragonslayers position themselves in the small zone. Since his Fireforged with the Warlord also can't advance much and a hill blocks the line of sight for the next round, I take the opportunity to push my regiments on the left flank forward a bit. Together, they can win the fight against the Dragonslayers, as long as they don’t get a Clash.

On the other side, both the melee toad and the sorcerers enter the battlefield. I position my Flamecaster there and figure that the extra token I would get from the Sorcerers could be useful. So, I go for a move-charge into the Ballista while positioning the Sorcerer's toe just inside the zone. The first Sword Dancers appear next to the field in case he tries something; maybe I’ll even manage to secure the zone or at least clear the way for the Bakasura. The Bakasura, my big favorite, comes in the center for some evil plans, and two rituals—both Conflagration—enter my deck for the next round. Two other rituals are in progress, with 2 and 3 markers each, and the Dweghom take a three-point lead.

In round four, Felix starts, and his Sorcerer Warlord buffs his own regiment, fearing that the Bakasura will charge in. I could do that, but the Bakasura is further down in the deck, possibly to snack on a Hellbringer later. I'm willing to sacrifice a Sorcerer for that opportunity. I get to go next and barely manage to cast Sandstorm on the Ballista, and in melee, the Rajakur almost take down two stands. This leaves the Warriors ready to flank me, but they leave the Sorcerer and Rajakur standing with two health points remaining.

My Flamecasters move forward with a ritual, shoot down the Ballista, and Felix realizes what's about to happen. After some back-and-forth measuring, he has to make a decision: kill the Sorcerers and not score, or leave the Sorcerers alive and score in the zone. There’s also the option to kill the Sorcerers, lose the Drake, and not score, but despite my intense persuasion, he categorically refuses that choice. I don’t understand why! He moves the Hellbringer into the zone, and my comment that the Sword Dancers would likely kill the Warriors and then attack the Drake in the next round is dismissed with the usual Dweghom response about their great tokens.

In short: Five tokens are not enough against the Jadoo Sword Dancers when I flank the Warriors. Then the Ironclad runs into the zone, and I position more Sword Dancers, along with the second Bakasura, on the flank. That side is starting to look like I might actually like the zone after all.

To prevent this, the Initiates, as expected, entered the large zone on his side. On the other side, the Dragonslayers marched toward me early on, and I positioned myself exactly 12" away with the Fire Maharajah. The first stand of Dragonslayers was taken down when Conflagration hit at the end of the round, but I didn't have much use for it beyond that. Felix seemed visibly confused that I was just throwing so many dice at the Dragonslayers. It also surprised him that I was casting double attack spells with the Sorcerer Kings without having a fire regiment nearby. Apparently, I was playing the Sorcerer Kings differently than how they do it in Stuttgart. I took the compliment and wished him luck for the next round, warning that it would get bitter if I started first.

Behind the Dragonslayers came the Fireforged, and I sent the Bakasura from the center into the D6 Fireforged of the Warlord, even managing to deal two damage points. The score was 4:6 in favor of the Dweghom, and two more rituals went into my deck, while another was being prepared with 3 markers.

In round five, Conflagration and the Sword Dancers were on top. If I started the round, the Hellbringer would die. If Felix started, the second Sword Dancers—who were at the original spot of the first—would charge into the Ironclad and pray. After that, it would be the Flamecasters' turn, followed by my Fire Maharajah, the Rajakur, and later on, the archers and Bakasuras. I started the round, and as expected, the Hellbringer died easily, without the need for tokens.

Although the Ironclad takes out the Flamecasters in return, I plan to later take it down with the Flamecasters, the Bakasura, and the second Sword Dancers. His Initiates are also in the zone at that point, but I simply have infinitely more resources—and most importantly, I still have a Sorcerer who is spreading Sandstorms with Jadoo.

Things get more interesting on the other side. Felix activated his Warlord Sorcerer early to get to D6, and one of the Fireforged units even shot at the Bakasura, but it survived with 3 health points. Against D6, the Bakasura didn’t do much, but I nearly took down the first stand. Then my archers had their turn and simply finished off the Dragonslayers. This allowed my Rajakur to advance. The score is 13:8, and one more ritual is added to the Sorcerer Kings’ deck.

Since I can’t effectively prevent the Initiates from charging me, I place a Bakasura at the top, followed by the Rajakur with the Maharajah and the rest of my units. I start again and kill the Warlord's Fireforged. That was incredibly lucky for me and essentially the breaking point for the Dweghom. Even though his Initiates were up next and nearly killed the second Bakasura, it didn’t help much. Two almost-dead monsters are just as good as fully healthy ones when on the offensive. Before continuing on the flank, my Rajakur moved and charged into the second Fireforged, eliminating them after a round or two through Clash and Burn to Cinders.

On the other flank, two regiments of Flamecasters, a Sword Dancer, and a Bakasura teamed up against the Initiates. Of course, this happened only after I cast Sandstorm on them and was able to flank. Two rounds of 16 hits from the Flamecasters, thanks to Torrential Fire, made it quite uncomfortable, and the Bakasura finished off the rest.

This way, I start the tournament with a victory, while at the other tables, Nauth, Nino, Nick, Callidus, and Lars—none of them are strangers—are winning as well. In other words, a cavalry block + Asheb Dawn, the new OD scumbag, Spire, the new Wadrhun, and a Nord Rush. As for the alternatives, I hope for Nick but draw Lars instead, and I realize he has a completely different list than Uziel and Morten. No Rush, but three Jotnars, a block of Huscarl with Volva, Bow Chosen, and so on. This looks familiar and aligns with what he usually plays to achieve solid 2:1 results. I glance at Lars questioningly, but he just responds with a smirking, “Never change a running system.” Link next Battlereport