Game 3 – Xelcor 7 with 100k on Melee
So coming off a loss is always a bit hard, however I wanted to give my best as the only Nords-Unicorn at the tournament. Still I felt a bit drained after the two games so I was delighted to play against 100k, where I had enough experience with it because Lukas is/was playing them a lot.
Xelcor is a super friendly guy who played a Theist/Feudal list, with a big MaA, Crusader and Sicarii Block, backed up by an Archangel and some chaffy units. I knew Theist have their one big Blessed turn, so I knew what was coming.
Going into Melee a Kill-Point-Scenario with my relatively aggressive list always feels a bit harder, however I could atleast use my power of turn 2 scoring here, haha!
Apologies I did not take a single picture here, I was drained and focused on the game. I have to get better at this but at tournaments it is always hard to play fast, think about it and the game itself.
His List
=== The Last Argument of Kings ===
Theist [2000/2000]
The Hundred Kingdoms
== Crusading Noble Lord [90]: Dynastic Ally, To Cast Out the Daemon
Crusaders 6 [260]: [Veteran]
== Theist Priest [120]: Get in Position
Archangel 1 [240]: Aspect of the Avenger Sword
Sicarii 5 [240]:
== Warlord Noble Lord [125]: Mask of Eaklides, Elysian Fragment, Weapon Master, Graceful Combatant, Front of the Line
Men at Arms 8 [300]: Seasoned Veteran
Men at Arms 3 [110]:
Household Knights 3 [170]:
Longbowmen 3 [130]:
== Chapter Mage [105]: School of Water, Art of War
Mercenary Crossbowmen 3 [110]:
Turn 1
I chose three light Raiders, which all came on, as well as my Bow Chosen. He got his Longbowmen and Crossbowmen with Mage.
I wanted to put pressure on and deployed all three Raiders central to get into his face early and maybe force his hand a bit.
Turn 2
I declared my Medium Raiders for scoring, got my Huskarls and two Steel Chosen on. He got his Crusaders, MaA and Sicarii on.
His Longbowmen shot at my Raider, however I followed it up with going aggressively forward and march charging with one unit of Raider his Longbowmen who stood in the Water. The other Raiders+Shaman threatened his Sicarii block and another one went to the left side to maybe block of his MaA from the big zone.
Huskarls went to the left big zone, Steel Chosen backed up Central and right side.
MaA came on the left side with their Cleave 3, Sicarii in the Middle and Crusader on the right side.
Turn 3
My Bearsarks and remaining SC came in. His Archangel and Householdknights as well as MaA came in.
I think here he my opponent made a crucial mistake: the pressure on his Longbowmen and his units made it so, that he charged with his Crusaders the flank of my Raider, leaving them open for a flank and/or rear charge by Steel Chosen next turn. This was a huge opportunity for me and and I positioned on the right side for that case. His Crusaders where stuck on a single Raider base still.
The central Sicarii got one huge volley from my Bow Chosen which killed two Stands outright and he marched them forward, in range for me and march+charging with my Raiders+Shaman taking another 1 ½ stand off. Leaving him broken and sweating for his Theist priest, which meant he would activate his surpremacy next turn otherwise he would lose it.
My Bearsarks central on the small zone for scoring and reinforcing against the Archangel coming in. The left zone my Raiders blocked his MaA for one turn and Huskarls stepped onto the big zone.
Right side my SC where in place for Charging the rear of the Crusaders and behind them other Steel Chosen coming in to score the zone when I need to charge off it.
He positioned his HHK on the right side, ready to eat the SC after the Crusader charge.
3 zones for me this turn.
Turn 4
I won surpremacy, activated my ability + relentless blows and he got his blessed off.
First activation SteelChosen into the rear of Crusaders. 23 Hits even with Blessed 12 Wounds + 12 automatic morale-wounds later the Crusaderblock was dead, goddamn rear-charges kick-ass now!
He counted with his Sicarii clearing my Raider+Shaman and the Sicarii got shot up by my BowChosen after.
His Archangel decided to smite-charge my BowChosen to bind them in place and block my Bearsarks but my BowChosen decided to nearly save every hit, which was crazy.
His HHK killed my SC which where in the rear of the Crusaders. My other SC on the right side stayed put to score the zone.
My Bearsarks in the middle where blocked but scored the smaller zone.
My Raiders on the left side charge+clashed his MaA basically doing nothing and he decided not to hit them so as not to give way for my Huskarls to come in.
I got 2 zones and he blocked me off the left bigger zone with his MaA.
Turn 5
I won surpremacy again, went with Tenacious+1
I chose my BowChosen to clap at the Archangel again doing some Damage and he killed them later in the round still blocking my Bearsarks in.
His MaA killy my Raiderunit and charged into my Huskarls. My Huskarls basically tickled the 8 Stand MaA and they got healed back up.
On the right side, his HHK move up March+Charged on one of my SC on the zone. The others had the last activation and move+charged into the Archangel and doing 5 Impacts and the remaing 7 wounds on the Archangel kilim him in the process, which was a sick move.
Turn 6
I think I won surpremacy again, getting flanking bonus.
Going first I went with my SteelChosen who clapped his HHK dead on the right zone.
He went with his big MaA block and decimated all the Huskarls thanks to Cleave 3 and a huge number of attacks.
The SC who just killed the Archangel the did a March+Charged on his Crossbowmen+Mage killing them.
My Bearsarks marched forward to also threatened his small MaA and he basically had one unit of small MaA left who would get eaten next turn by my SC and his MaA block, where I had double SC and Bearsarks left to score.
We talked it through and after kill points and me leading the zone scoring game the first half of the match it went 79:59 for Nords!
Afterthoughts: Steel Chosen are just beastly against 100k, Shields don’t help em and they just smash them up. I think I did some minor errors with my Raider positioning this game again, I could have went even more aggressive on the lefthand side but was too scared of Crossbows which was rather a bad decision.
Xelcor was a pleasant opponent and I would gladly face him again in one of the next tournaments! Thanks for the interesting game, hope to see you again on the tournament tables!
Afterthoughts on the whole tournament:
Thinking about it longer and talking on the way back home to Graz with the other Kaisers, I feel like that the list is maybe better putting the Jarl in Bow Chosen and the Konny in a Huskarl brick to give them more of a punch. Terryfying 1 and his Cleave 1 on 7 Attacks is strong for the brick. I also am convinced now that the best part about Jarl is the Reinforcement bonus, +1 on lights makes Raiders super reliable and then a 3-/5- on Mediums makes sure that everything is on the table round 3. The threat of always going on 11’ and threatening my Juggernaut turn is also huge, which I like.
Some personal errors on positioning, especially if you have to spread out your units and making sure there is no road-blocking yourself is a skill I need to practice more, especially when table space is at a premium.