Hey everyone,
On the second weekend of March, Corcaedus and Guillaume hosted an ITC tournament in France.
The event took place in a bright, spacious town hall or youth center in Bezons, not far from Paris. The venue offered plenty of room, lots of natural light, and a relaxed atmosphere. On top of that, there was good food and drinks available throughout the event. The entry fee was 60 euros per player. Included in that were not only free drinks but also two breakfasts, a lunch, and a group dinner at an Italian restaurant. As a bonus, every participant received a welcome package: a bag with the club logo, mission markers, a pin, and a stylish water bottle.
Guillaume had originally planned for even more in terms of equipment and extras. Unfortunately, the number of participants fell short of expectations. Several last-minute cancellations in the weeks leading up to the event made things difficult for the two organizers. They really did everything they could to find replacement players on short notice and fill up the teams again. However, this also caused delays in list submission and reduced Guilli’s sleep schedule to an almost unmeasurable minimum.
ITC France – Lists, Teams & Rules
You can check out all the ITC lists, teams, and rules in English right here:
👉 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WqDctd0Z4CEPpL06bMjFq1Q4bJRAHqDO
In my battle reports, I’ll focus on the lists of my direct opponents and also share a bit about our own thoughts during the pairing process.
Our Tournament Planning & Lists
When we decided to make the trip to Paris, the first question we had to answer was: which players and factions did we want to bring? Our strategy was to build a well-rounded team that could handle anything, since we had no idea what to expect on-site.
For me personally, the Sorcerer Kings were quickly off the table. That army is just too inconsistent for my taste, especially when it comes to Reinforcement rolls. On top of that, their mechanics are pretty complex. And that was a double problem: on the one hand, you don’t want to play a list you can’t rely on 100%. On the other hand, constantly having to explain rules in English would have been a real hurdle for me. Let’s just say my language skills are solid enough for slow small talk, but things get tricky when it comes to complex interactions and special rules. I wanted to spare both myself (and my opponents) that kind of stress.
That basically left me with a choice between the Hundred Kingdoms and the W'adrhŭn. The latter have gotten a bit of a bad rep in our club—mostly because of my list, which includes three units of Slingers. Sure, there are more efficient or optimized builds out there, but you can’t underestimate the psychological impact of this list. No one really enjoys playing against it, which can definitely work to your advantage in a team tournament when it comes to pairings.
With that in mind, I was allowed to bring out my W'adrhŭn list again for practice at the club—much to the "delight" of Nauthi and Marcus—and eventually take it with me to the ITC in France. We were pretty confident that many teams would run similar concepts. The classic Dweghom token-castle seemed like an obvious choice, and with Uziel’s Nords list, we thought we had a good counter lined up. What we didn’t realize was that lists like these had already disappeared from the French meta. That was our first nasty surprise on day one of the tournament. And the second surprise came soon after: contrary to our assumption, not every table was playing a different scenario each round. Instead, everyone played the same scenario each round.
That left Nino. At first, he built a current, popular Old Dominion ghost list, which is very trendy in the current meta. However, he wasn’t happy with the results, especially at the top tables. After lots of testing, he decided to switch things up: instead of running three ghost units, he went for more Athanatoi combined with a fully defensive Praetorian block.
In hindsight, the more aggressive Linebreaker version probably would’ve been the better choice for this tournament. But the Spanish and French players were running completely different concepts compared to what we were used to back home.
Uziel (Captain) [2000/2000]== (Warlord) Volva [125]: Ty Jokull, the Rimeheart
* Raiders (5) [220]: Captain
== Vargyr Lord [175]: Massive Frame, Wild Beasts
* Werewargs (3) [170]:
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
* Goltr Beastpack (4) [210]:
* Goltr Beastpack (3) [160]:
== Jarl [120]: Reyngeir, the God Spear
* Raiders (3) [140]: Captain
* Bearsarks (3) [200]: Savage
* Raiders (3) [140]: Captain
* Steel-Chosen (3) [200]: Shield Biter
Nino [2000/2000]
== (Warlord) Strategos [160]: Legio I 'Primigenia', Aventine Armor, Eternal Discipline
* Athanatoi (3) [170]:
* Athanatoi (3) [170]:
* Praetorian Guard (5) [260]: Standard Bearer
== Hierodeacon [90]:
* Cultists (3) [90]:
* Legionnaires (3) [115]: Optio
* Buccephaloi (3) [220]:
* Buccephaloi (3) [220]:
== Archimandrite [110]:
* Legionnaires (3) [100]:
* Legionnaires (3) [115]: Optio
* Moroi (3) [180]:
Hanna [2000/2000]
== (Warlord) Chieftain [130]: Conquest, Vision
* Veterans (3) [170]:
* Veterans (3) [170]:
* Slingers (3) [150]:
== Predator [100]: War
* Braves (3) [130]:
* Hunting Pack (3) [120]:
* Apex Predator (1) [190]:
* Slingers (3) [150]:
== Predator [100]: War
* Braves (3) [130]:
* Hunting Pack (3) [120]:
* Apex Predator (1) [190]:
* Slingers (3) [150]:
Game 1 – Amour & Ruins (W'adrhŭn, Nords & Dweghom) on Grind Them Down
Our first encounter with the French meta was against Team Amour & Ruins. At first glance at their lists, we felt well prepared and didn’t expect any major hurdles. The W'adrhŭn list was solid standard, the Nords lacked much in the way of Linebreakers, and the Dweghom list was a Raegh build. At first, it didn’t look particularly dangerous. We had tested similar concepts from the U.S. in the past and considered them less optimal, so we were feeling relatively confident.
That said, Uziel wasn’t entirely sure if his list could deal enough damage against a Dweghom army, so we decided he’d get the pick in pairings and go forward first. Our preferred setup was for him to play against the W'adrhŭn, which would give me the opportunity to face the Dweghom list, leaving Nino to take on the Nords. But things didn’t go the way we expected: their team decided to send in the Dweghom list instead of the Nords, and they chose to challenge our Old Dominion, which completely caught us off guard.
That left me paired up against Valentine with his Nords list. At first, I was a bit confused—it almost felt like they were "sacrificing" him in this matchup. After all, my list was pretty well suited to handle Nords. But after a quick chat, it became clear why they made this decision: Valentine hadn’t played many games yet, and the team thought the smartest tactic was to let him face me, as they considered the other two matchups to be much more favorable for them.
Valentine [2000/2000]
== (Warlord) Vargyr Lord [165]: Figurehead of the Naglfar, Written in Bones
* Werewargs (3) [170]:
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
* Mountain Jotnar (1) [210]:
== Blooded [140]: Rjóða, the Red Bringer
* Trolls (4) [240]:
* Ugr (3) [150]:
* Ugr (3) [150]:
== Volva [125]: Ty Jokull, the Rimeheart
* Valkyries (5) [250]:
* Raiders (3) [120]:
The game picked up pace quickly, and I was able to take control early on. Both of our Reinforcements arrived reliably and right on target, giving me a clear advantage. In the second round, the Slingers really came alive and managed to shoot down both the Raiders and the Werewargs—despite the Figurehead of the Naglfar. That gave me a significant card advantage, so I wasn’t too bothered by falling behind on points at the end of round two. It was a bit of a twist, sure, but just a temporary snapshot in my eyes—I already had the upper hand by then.
Valentine tried to put some pressure on me and gain a small advantage through terrain. However, the obscuring terrain that was supposed to protect him was poorly positioned from his side. The water feature in the middle of the board further restricted his movement, which allowed me to push far forward, apply pressure, and deny him control over the battlefield.
In round three, he tried to overwhelm me by presenting too many targets at once, but it ended up working against him. I was able to focus down his units in the zones one by one, breaking them apart and pulling ahead on points.
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In round three, his Trolls fell to my Hunting Pack and Veterans, while my own Veterans were nearly wiped out by the counter-charge from his Ugr. Overall, it was a very bloody round, and I lost my first cards. But even though he managed to trade 1-for-1 on cards, I was already five cards ahead and could absorb the losses without any issues. It became clear that his options were running out, and his situation was steadily worsening.
In the following rounds, I seized the opportunity, and both of my Apex Predator units broke through on both flanks. The Apex that was originally just supposed to hold up the Valkyries ended up wiping them out in just two Clash actions. I eventually won the game 70:6 and was the first one on our team to finish.
While I was celebrating my victory, the others were still fighting. Uziel had been feeling confident about his chances, but the dice simply weren’t on his side. Several of his charges failed to hit their mark, and when a Quatl survived with just one wound remaining, the game was all but decided. He narrowly lost the match, 26:33.
Our hope now rested on Nino, who focused on the seemingly easy win against the Dweghom. However, we hadn’t accounted for the Thanes block of the Dweghom, which could potentially come in from the flank in round four. This block turned out to be a real problem and put Nino under immense pressure. It felt as though nothing was really dying on either side, as the Dweghom, with their Raegh, were securing zones more efficiently than Hazlia’s servants. I stepped back from the battlefield and supported Nino from afar with prayers to the great Hazlia.
In the end, Nino managed to secure the win with a close 23:17. Even though he won, the relief was evident, and he expressed that he’d prefer not to face Dweghom Raegh lists in the future. Thus, the first round concluded as an educational start, opening our eyes to the peculiarities of the French meta, with a 2:1 result in our favor.
Game 2 – Chocolatines (W'adrhŭn, Old Dominion & Dweghom) on Forlorn Hope
After a long lunch break, we faced the Chocolatines. I didn’t have a strong preference for the matchup but was hoping to avoid the mirror match, as the Chosen of Death block would simply advance toward me with its shooting and crush anything that stood in its way. Our captain decided that I wouldn’t be set up to avoid this exact mirror matchup. However, Uziel was convinced I could win the match, so we could better control the other pairings. To ensure Nino got a good matchup as well, he would face a Dweghom Raegh list. Since he now knew what to expect, it seemed likely to work out, and Uziel was up for the challenge of taking on Hazlia’s undead legions. The plan worked perfectly: we got exactly the "desired" pairings.
WAALEX [1990/2000]
== (Warlord) Matriarch Queen [140]: Death, Beads of Death, Cure
* Apex Predator (1) [190]:
* Chosen of Death (5) [360]:
== Mounted Predator [120]: War, Death's Reach
* Quatl (1) [170]:
* Raptor Riders (3) [180]:
* Hunting Pack (3) [120]:
* Hunting Pack (3) [120]:
== Chieftain [100]: Death
* Veterans (3) [170]:
* Veterans (3) [170]:
* Slingers (3) [150]:
I had played the mirror match several times before and knew that the player who becomes too aggressive and overextends is the one who loses. My plan was to stay a few inches back, drawing him toward me. Since he wasn’t generating Conquest tokens, I hoped to outmaneuver him and catch him off guard with precise attacks in the late game.
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In the first round, all of his Lights appeared, while only one of my Slinger regiments didn’t show up. He marched aggressively toward me, while I held back a bit to stay within the maximum range of my Slingers. I had to offer him a Hunting Pack, but I was confident I could take two cards from him in return. In the second round, one Hunting Pack died early on each side, and I took my time maneuvering his troops. He tried to destroy his objective and used his Quatl for the task, but he had to move it very close to my unactivated Hunting Pack, which gave me the opportunity to deal with his flying dinosaur. This also denied him a zone and allowed me to take the lead—an unexpected but very welcome turn of events.
In the following round, my Hunting Pack was killed early by the Chosen of Death, but it managed to delay my key activations long enough. Now, he was forced to come to me if he wanted to win the game. In round four, his entire army charged toward me, blocking my left flank’s zone, and I only managed to hold it with great difficulty and many chants. However, on the right flank, Waalex became too greedy: he sent the Chosen of Death via Move Charge into my Veterans, who hadn’t had their Chieftain activated yet. The combination of Evasion 3, RR6, Tenacious, and Indomitable is very unpleasant, but Flurry Veterans are too. The Chieftain challenged the Queen to a duel and surprisingly defeated her. This took away many of the block's special rules, and in the Clash between the Veterans and the Volley from the small Slingers shooting from the side, three stands went down. This caused his right flank to collapse and gave me the chance to slowly push forward on the other side. In the end, I managed to secure the game with a clear 71:15 (approximately) victory.
Nino, on the other hand, had to face another intense game against the Dweghom and managed to narrowly win with a 38:34 score. Our overall opinion on the Raegh lists had changed by now, and we looked at Uziel's board with confidence. However, he lost due to the dice being too good—his regiments surprisingly survived much longer than expected, causing him to trip over himself and ultimately lose his desired matchup.
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Game 3 – Ebro (Nords, Hundred Kingdoms, Sorcerer Kings) on Melee
The final game of the first day was against Lord Kragan from Spain, who had brought Kilian along as a mercenary for the tournament. With this team, which eventually placed second, we were in for some big challenges. The night before, we had dinner with Kragan and Javier, chatted a lot, and everything felt relaxed. Uziel had teased Kilian with his jokes at the bar, which naturally left a small grudge that now needed to be settled. So, we offered to sacrifice our captain if we could get to choose the other matchups. Uziel declined this offer. As a result, Kragan was set and sacrificed himself in the safe mismatch against me to further support his team. Nino faced Javier with the Sorcerer Kings, and Uziel and Kilian also had their duels.
Kragan [2000/2000]
== (Warlord) Blooded [130]: Coils of the Serpent
* Stalkers (3) [140]:
* Trolls (6) [360]:
== Konungyr [140]: Reyngeir, the God Spear
* Huskarls (4) [200]:
* Bow-Chosen (3) [200]:
== Vargyr Lord [140]: Figurehead of the Naglfar
* Fenr Beastpack (3) [140]:
* Werewargs (4) [230]:
* Goltr Beastpack (3) [160]:
* Goltr Beastpack (3) [160]:
Kragan explained to me that these were their preferred matchups. While he was fully aware that he was being sacrificed, Kilian considered the matchup against me on Melee to be a 50/50 and they preferred two favorable matchups over three balanced ones. Additionally, according to Kragan, Javier was simply the much better player and was playing Old Dominion himself.
Kragan got a bit lucky with the board setup. A dense forest on one side provided good cover for his Werewargs, while he positioned his troops in a way that made it difficult for me to shoot at them effectively. I began slowly whittling down the stands of his regiments, always being careful not to get too close to his army. I had much greater range with my troops, so it was important to control the zones and avoid getting caught in a fatal counterattack.
I steadily accumulated points in the early rounds, while he tried to position himself for a better position. However, I gave him few opportunities for mistakes and made small but steady progress. This left him with little chance to do anything other than wait and hope for a mistake on my part.
After about an hour, Uziel came to our table and said the game was over. We looked at him confused, and I was about to start offering some encouraging words when he explained that he had won 95:25. The test games against the Bielefeld players, who had also fielded double Archangels, had paid off. This put Kragan under pressure, and now he had to decide how to proceed.
He left his safe position and gave me a chance to charge. Since I had more cards and it was a clear opportunity, I seized the moment. Eventually, his flank turned into a red cloud of destroyed units, and I was able to secure the game for myself.
While I defeated Kragan, Nino managed to convincingly win against Javier and his Sorcerer Kings with a 95:31 score. The reinforcements for Javier just didn’t come through, which was exactly the reason I hadn’t chosen Sorcerer Kings for the event.
Thus, the successful first day ended, securing us an excellent starting position for the second day of the tournament. Afterward, we all went to an Italian restaurant on tournament expenses and planned to go to bed early. However, we ended up staying late again at the hotel bar.
Game 4 – Team Next Door (W'adrhŭn, Hundred Kingdoms, City States) on Farsight
None of us had clear preferences for the final matchups. City States weren’t exactly my ideal opponent, but honestly, I saw the scenario itself as the real problem, no matter which list I would face in the end. The rest of the team felt similarly. So, we paired up Uziel first, who willingly took on the Hundred Kingdoms. I was sent into the second W'adrhŭn mirror, and Nino took on the City States.
Michael [2000/2000]
== (Warlord) Matriarch Queen [135]: Conquest, Beads of Death, History
* Chosen of Conquest (4) [270]:
* Braves (3) [130]:
* Apex Predator (1) [190]:
* Quatl (1) [170]:
== Chieftain [100]: War
* Veterans (3) [170]:
* Veterans (3) [170]:
* Thunder Riders (3) [220]:
== Predator [115]: War, Hide of the Silent Hunter
* Raptor Riders (3) [180]:
* Slingers (3) [150]:
The communication was... let's say, sportsmanlike. His English was virtually nonexistent, and we mostly communicated with gestures, feet, and a shared understanding of how our faction works. The fact that we both knew W'adrhŭn well made it easier.
What I noticed, and had seen in two previous games as well, was that the French were extremely focused on concealing their automatic selections and reinforcement rolls. Every time, everything was placed face down as if some massive mind-game advantage depended on it. I personally play it openly; the decisions are usually obvious, and I just don't see a reason to make it a secret.
Our reinforcements arrived as expected: unremarkable, within the bounds of probability. He disciplined himself to stay outside my shooting range and movement distance, and I did the same. The few times I could actually shoot, my Slingers let me down. Three or five hits weren’t enough to build pressure, and I started to get nervous. Especially since I wasn’t good at guessing the zones in this scenario. I’ll stick to it: this scenario is just stupid.
Eventually, I managed to catch his Raptor Riders, which gave me some breathing room. His Quatl then nearly wiped out my small Slingers, but was then killed by my Braves. From that point on, I had a solid card advantage. I became a bit bolder, which the game directly punished. So, I returned to the boring but safe version: going through the center and avoiding unnecessary risks.
On the right flank, he still had a block of Chosen of Conquest and a regiment of Veterans, facing my Apex, a Hunting Pack, my Veterans, and a few Slingers. They didn’t really dare to move forward, which was perfectly fine for me. This allowed me to pressure the center with my Slingers while simultaneously controlling the zone.
When I finally managed to get my Veterans (without Chieftain) into his Slingers and wipe them out in melee, the center completely collapsed. In the meantime, he had rolled up my left flank, but the exchange — once Slingers and Braves for Apex, Veterans with Chieftain, and Quatl — was nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory for him.
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As I was slowly heading towards the finish line, we received the news from the other tables: Our team had already won. Uziel and Nino had already secured the victories for us. So we agreed to end the game after the current round. He still wanted to test what would happen if his Chosen of Conquest on the right side dared to attack. Short version: They die. Completely. Down to the last stand.
With that, our last game was also over. There were a few boxes as prizes, quirky gnomes with cheese hats, and a golden "Fishgnom" trophy. Unfortunately, there was only one trophy for the three of us, but it was sponsored by Para Bellum themselves, who were also on-site.
In conclusion, there’s not much more to say. The kind invitation, the great games, and the smooth organization made it a lot of fun for us. It was truly a fantastic and entertaining weekend, and we had an amazing time together. The atmosphere was super relaxed, the prices for food and drinks were more than fair, and most importantly, we felt incredibly welcome the whole time.
I really enjoy when people eat together instead of everyone organizing something for themselves. It gave the whole event a family-like, friendly touch and just made it special.
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