Overview
Day 1
Day 2
Hi everyone,
After we went out for dinner with some of the guys the night before, here’s a picture from the fun gathering. As you can see, the photo is of me and, like everything else, a bit blurry, and the people are only partially in the frame. That’s how you can tell it’s an original Hanna.
Gmae 3 – Melee with Guido and Spire
The second day of the tournament started late again after breakfast. I already knew from the day before that in Game 1 I would be playing against Quickitt, a.k.a. Guido. Normally, I never look forward to playing against Spire, but Guido had already come across as very likeable at dinner, and his army was fully painted. It’s just so much more fun to play against painted armies, and his was also quite nice to look at.
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The Directorate
== (Warlord) Biomancer [140]: Master of Flesh
* Force-Grown Drones (6) [180]: <-- Biomancer
* Desolation Drones (3) [150]:
* Siegebreaker Behemoth (1) [210]:
== Lineage Prideborne [150]: Neural Override, Attracting Pheromones
* Centaur Avatara (3) [190]: <-- Prideborne
* Centaur Avatara (3) [190]:
* Leonine Avatara (3) [180]:
== Pheromancer [100]: Avatar Projection
* Stryx (3) [120]:
* Brute Drones (4) [220]:
* Pteraphon Surveyor (1) [170]:
It looked like Nick’s list, just with Centaurs. I liked the change on paper and couldn’t help but think of Nicki and Rotbärtchen, who had dismissed my suggestion a few weeks ago to put a Prideborne with Flank into Centaurs. Guido, however, had had a lot of success with it so far. Normally, he played two MSU FGD instead of one big block, but with two kill point missions he preferred to give away fewer points. Also, the Leonine instead of an Abo were an experiment in his list, now that supposedly fewer Tenacious regiments would be on the table.
Round one, and we both started with two Lights, which was fine by me – after all, I only wanted a maximum of six tokens anyway. I would have preferred more Ghols to play more aggressively, but the dice decided otherwise.
His FGD block moved toward the right flank, the Stryx stayed in the center. I set up the first Ghols with Maharajah against them, and on the far left the second Ghols with Raj.
The reinforcement rolls were encouraging: the Spire only got their Pteraphon, while I received the Ghols, Mahabharati, Sword Dancers with Raj, and two Flamecasters. Annoyingly, only one regiment could move directly into a zone, but I hadn’t really expected not to fall behind in round two anyway.
I built my deck rather conservatively: Flamecasters at the bottom, above them the Mahabharati, and at the very top the Ghols. If he attacked me, I’d be prepared. Guido’s Biomancer was hoping early on that the FGD could score, and eventually moved them into the right-hand zone. I positioned the Sword Dancers with Raj against them.
His Stryx shifted a bit to the side, and the big flyer moved into the small zone. I took the opportunity to reinforce my center with the Flamecasters and more Ghols. The Mahabharati, using Vanguard, advanced two wide into the left zone and took a slight lead, allowing me to place two rituals into my deck.
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Except for one regiment of Sword Dancers, I had all my cards in round three, and the Spire were only missing one regiment of Centaurs. Since I had little interest in letting rampaging Stryx into my lines, I once again placed Ghols and Flamecasters at the bottom. As expected, there were some early character activations, and then we deployed regiments onto the board. On the left, he placed the Brute Drones, the Leonine near the small zone, and next to them the big flyer, a.k.a. the Pteraphon. His FGD pulled back a bit, fearing that I might jump into them with the Sword Dancers, and with the help of the Pteraphon the Centaurs with Prideborne went straight into the right-hand zone. That made me much less interested in attacking there.
Since the Stryx also weren’t keen on charging me, I still had a handful of activations left and made a big push forward in the center. Some Ghols moved into the forest in the middle, so they might be able to reach the Centaurs’ flank, and a water marker was placed near the Centaurs and the Force Grown Drones. That way, in the next round there would be a geyser, and maybe I could deal some damage to the Centaurs. In the end, we both collected seven points, and I added a few more rituals to my deck.
In round four, I wasn’t sure whether I should really commit to a flank charge against the Centaurs. I decided to first place a Raj for Molten Blades at the top and then plan a Fiery Dominion with Ghols and the geyser. If Guido did something annoying in between, I still had enough duplicate Ghols to react differently.
Guido noticed that the Ghols could charge into the Centaurs’ flank but ignored it—mainly because he assumed that Lights coming out of the forest wouldn’t get Inspire. He activated other units first, and I was actually able to get the Molten Blades Ghols into the flank. After some unlucky sixes on defense and repeated resolve rolls, only one Centaur with three wounds remained, and the geyser finished the rest. With that, I had caught up and placed an annoying Ghols problem right in front of Guido. His FGD failed in their attempt to kill the unit, and with his second-to-last activation the Pteraphon shot the Ghols so that the next Centaurs could move into the zone.
Earlier on, he had tried to get his Stryx in the center to charge four or five of my other Ghols. That failed, however, and they stayed more than ten inches away. Since I liked the position, I went in with a Move Charge against the Stryx. The situation was extremely uncomfortable for him, so the Leonine shifted their aggression toward the Ghols. But my expendable Ghols simply wouldn’t die. This allowed the rest of my army to push forward again, and a Burn to Cinder on the Stryx presented itself. Eight hits for me, six wounds on him, no Resolve, and the next regiment was eliminated. Guido cursed loudly and was forced to send the Brute Drones with a Move Charge into the Ghols to secure the remaining wounds with the impact hits. Once again, we each collected seven points, but at least I had caught up and eliminated one of his heavy units.
Still, I wasn’t happy with my positioning. Nearly all of my units were within supporting range of each other, but the Vanguard Centaurs forced me to station three units on the left flank—where nothing happened. Now that the Brute Drones had also been pulled away, it meant I had to make two regiments execute a long redeploy, which was blocked by the house. On top of that, I didn’t want to push too far forward, since being at a disadvantage on initiative made me reluctant to force an initiative roll.
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In round five, I once again had a Deep in the deck to reposition the water marker, and the Brute Drones had taken six damage from the Flamecasters in the previous round. With Molten Blades, I was confident I could deal significant damage to them with the Ghols. So I placed Maharajah and the Ghols at the top, followed by the Flamecasters. The left flank remained largely inactive, while the rest came from the center, with the Deep at the bottom for the water marker. Guido won the starting roll, as almost always, due to the card disadvantage, and unexpectedly sent the Brute Drones into the Ghols, directly into the Hindering and Dangerous Water. Clash on a 1—his expectations were higher than the Drones’ performance. Despite rerolls and characters, the three stands only managed a handful of hits. I made two saves and my morale tests, taking only three damage afterward. A decent result for me and extremely annoying for Guido.
Then Maharajah called for Molten Blades, and the Ghols struck back. The damage was modest due to the water, but the Flamecasters behind them solved the problem nicely and put me in the lead. I had expected the Siegebreaker to jump early onto the Sword Dancers in the forest, but Guido hesitated. He realized that the Sword Dancers’ threat was mostly artificial. If they jumped out, they would deal some damage but kill nothing. I, on the other hand, would almost certainly lose them. If he went into the forest, Efreets on hard drugs would strike him from all sides. However, since he was running out of activations, he eventually sent the Pteraphon into the forest toward the Sword Dancers. It even killed one, which later returned with a Fiery Dominion. The Siegebreaker executed a Move Charge on the first Flamecasters, a Charge on the five, but the Pteraphon was now positioned to use two D6 for the Charge and still had rerolls. I then placed the water marker so that both his monsters and the Leonine ended up nicely in the water.
On the right flank, we glared at each other. His Desolation Drones were covering the Centaurs with their bodies, so I couldn’t execute a good Move Charge and had to step back. On the left flank, my long march toward the center began. In the end, we both scored seven points, while I added two geysers and a Fiery Dominion to my deck for the next round.
In round six, I liked the look of the board. Even if the Siegebreaker managed to break through, two Molten Blades Sword Dancers would be waiting for him. The Pteraphon was practically done, and I only needed to eliminate the Leonine to complete everything perfectly. They were within Maharajah’s range and in the water. I placed Maharajah at the top, followed by two geysers, and waited to see how things would unfold.
Guido went first and had the Leonine shoot a Flamecaster. After that, the pony girls fell to Maharajah and the geyser. His Pteraphon struck, but proved ineffective, while the Siegebreaker, uninspired but motivated enough by Burnout, managed to kill the Flamecasters. He moved into the zone toward the now-dead Leonine. That wasn’t far enough, and in the end, I sent in my Sword Dancers and Ghols, putting an end to his presence. That left only the right flank. It held on bravely for another round, but I could now simply throw units at it, and slowly the Centaurs and FGD were drowned by overwhelming force.
Game 4 – Maelstorm with Jorrit and City States
The last game saw me facing the new City States. Our City States players were already very excited when the new rules came out on Thursday before the tournament, and Nino had only told me positive things about his game against Jorrit and the City States the night before. With so much enthusiasm around, I naturally wanted to see for myself what was going on. But unknown things can always hurt you, and since Jorrit had beaten Nino in the first game, I was understandably cautious—or so I thought.
First, though, some very positive things: Fin and Alex agreed to take over the water table assigned to Jorrit and me, so I was able to play again on the desert board with the palms. In terms of terrain, it didn’t make a difference, but it set the stage for an epic duel between the City States and the Sorcerer Kings in the sand.
The list, roughly from memory:
The City States [1990/2000]
== Polemarch [90]:
* Phalangites (5) [255]: Lochagos, Sacred Band Veterans
* Hephaestian (1) [220]:
* Minotaur Thyreans (3) [190]:
* Thorakites (4) [185]: Lochagos, Minotaur Thyrean Auxiliary
== (Warlord) Polemarch [90]:
* Phalangites (5) [255]: Dorilates, Sacred Band Veterans
== Eidolon [110]:
* Inquisitors (3) [180]:
* Inquisitors (3) [180]:
* Hoplites (5) [235]: Lochagos, Minotaur Haspist Auxiliary
No chariots, no Aristarch, but three large infantry blocks and Inquisitors. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect, and aside from a brief explanation of the new Supremacy rules from the Polemarch, I decided on learning through pain. The fact that he got to go first once didn’t bother me much, as I had only won a single initiative in the entire tournament so far due to the card advantage.
The scenario was Maelstrom. In my eyes, one of the worst scenarios, because it’s nearly impossible to catch up once the opponent takes the lead and simply denies the zones. That was exactly my plan: score in round two and, by round three, threaten everything so much that he would have to go in first due to my card advantage, hopefully dying or being forced not to score.
In the first round, he deployed the Thorakites, while I had three Ghol regiments with two characters again. Two Ghols went into the center, directly opposite the Thorakites, and the last Ghols I positioned on the left flank. Six tokens for Fiery Dominion were immediately collected, and round two began.
Our reinforcements went well for both of us in round two. I received the last Ghols, three Sword Dancers, and one Mahabharati. At the very top, I first placed a Raj, then more Sword Dancers and additional regiments, so I could also complete the water ritual. I didn’t expect the Thorakites to immediately jump into my lines, but if they did, I was prepared to react.
We both advanced slowly onto the board. He placed a Polemarch on the left flank, another in the center, and on the far right the Eidolon with the Hoplites. Opposite them, I positioned the Raj with the Sword Dancers, while two Sword Dancer regiments deployed in the center. The Ghols all took a step forward, and the Mahabharati took the left zone.
Round three: for me, only the last Sword Dancers hadn’t arrived, and for him, the Titan and some Inquisitors. I felt like I wanted everything at the bottom of the deck, so I tried to balance that with rituals and characters. Nothing happened for five or six activations, then the Ghols in the center, without a character but with Molten Blades, charged into the Thorakites and basically achieved nothing. A handful of hits, good armor rolls, and unexpected resilience with R5 and rerolls on sixes were not what I had expected. I could and should have checked, but instead I essentially gave away the Ghols for almost nothing.
On the right side, he didn’t dare advance too far because he didn’t want to risk a flank charge from the Sword Dancers next round, so I positioned the other Sword Dancer block with Raj on the zone.
On the left flank, his cows with two-handed weapons and the Inquisitors advanced. The Phalangites moved forward as far as possible, and I placed a water marker on them. At the end of the round, there was a charge from Raj with Ghols and Molten Blades, along with a few stands of Flamecasters shooting at the Phalangites. In the end, the Phalangites were left with only two to three wounds and half of their stands in the water. More points for me, and I added Intrusive Thoughts and a geyser to my deck.
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In round four, the rest of his reinforcements arrived. He used Supremacy, which allowed him to go first as soon as a Polemarch card was on top, and chose the broken unit. First came a duel, which I bravely declined, and then as a follow-up activation, the Phalangites. Rallying wasn’t necessary, thanks to Always Inspire, and then they struck without killing the Ghols. The Ghols were broken and had only two wounds left, but they survived. So I cast an offensive spell on the Phalangites, who still ended up with one wound. In the follow-up activation, the uninspired Ghols attacked, dealt the last point of damage, and then rallied. At first, I considered falling back, but if anyone wanted to charge me, it would have to be into the water—and conveniently, the Mahabharati and Sword Dancers were perfectly positioned for a counterattack.
Nevertheless, the Inquisitors attacked and killed the Ghols. The second Inquisitors moved nearby as well, and the two-handed cows stayed more than eleven inches away from the Mahabharati, because he didn’t want to allow a charge while the Flamecasters could still fire. So I attacked the Inquisitors with the Sword Dancers and Molten Blades, removing them from the board.
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In the center, his Thorakites killed another unit of Ghols much earlier than expected, while the Sword Dancers appeared on the flank. Afterwards, his Phalangites moved into the zone, losing a stand to shooting, and the Titan positioned itself alongside the Sword Dancers. Only the right zone remained, where I had expected him to pull back the Hoplites. Instead, he sent them with a Move Charge against my Sword Dancers. Unexpectedly, the Sword Dancers, using Molten Blades, struck back, eliminated the Hoplites, and dominated the large right zone for the rest of the game. The first three stands died in the Clash, the rest from Resolve 2, and the regiment was broken.
Overall, I was very satisfied. Although he also scored two points, no matter where he started, I could strike hard elsewhere. So I placed a Fiery Dominion with Sword Dancers on top, followed by Flamecasters, and of course the Deep to place the water marker effectively. We rolled for initiative, and to my surprise, I got to go first. Unexpected. I considered where he might start and quickly discarded the thought. I also wanted to ensure that the left zone was held permanently.
So I charged into the cows, sending two of them home obediently. But 21 wounds and T1 is just absurdly much, and the last cow still glared at me. Then the Titan in the center killed the Sword Dancers in front of it, and I managed to take out one or two stands of Phalangites. Much later, my Maharajah, with Ghols and Molten Blades, went after that unit and sent them home.
On the left flank, things had been interesting earlier when the Inquisitors killed the Sword Dancers and the cow got in the way. The Flamecasters grilled them, and the Inquisitors were taken out by the Mahabharati and a geyser. The following rounds were a formality, as Jorrit couldn’t possibly catch up with only one regiment remaining.
Jorrit was a really funny opponent, and especially on the board, the game was enjoyable to watch despite the rather pointless scenario. With four victories, I finished in first place, Guido took second, and Nino came in third. Our first excursion to the Netherlands since the Warmachine NL Masters 2015 was thus a complete success.
Final Thoughts on the Army List
Mono-Fire was incredibly fun to play. Even though I believe that King of Nothings, Banksters Matschtornado, or Mono-Wind might be stronger, Mono-Fire is by no means unplayable, as it is sometimes portrayed. There are clear weaknesses in scoring and threat ranges, and with my particular build, you’re often at a disadvantage on initiative. Still, the army just looks fantastic on the table.
With the Maharajah, it’s a bit annoying that rituals now have to be performed with alternating Courts, except for water. This can make your actions hard for your opponent to follow. My build allowed me up to three rituals per round, but with more monsters for greater range and flexibility, you could reduce it to two rituals per round and achieve a much more stable performance.
Raj remains a solid combat character and, in combination with Molten Blades, simply impressive. Losing Flank hurts, but I see no reason not to play him almost always in duplicate, regardless of Court.
Efreet Sword Dancers are still the best melee unit in the Sorcerer Kings and the workhorse that makes Mono-Fire genuinely interesting. Plus, I really like the models.
The Efreet Flamecasters now hit normally at only 14 inches. While Height 2 still makes them attractive, the reduced range and Volley 2 are almost a dealbreaker for me.
Ghols as a screen are, as Gregor has always preached, now almost indispensable. Putting characters in the Ghols only makes sense if I want to maximize rituals and still have enough other regiments for scoring, because Ghols with characters are reluctant to fight in the front line—especially if they are not in the Court of Fire.
Would I play this list again? Perhaps, but not happily if I also wanted to win the tournament. The list has too many drawbacks that really bother me.
Cheers,
Hanna
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