Heya everyone!
Another day another conquest War report. Yes, it is again, Nords vs W’adruhn, but we promise, that we try to get games with other factions going! Stay tuned for the upcoming report.
Anyway, Nords came this time with this list:
=== The Last Argument of Kings ===
Testosteron [2000/2000]
Nords
== Jarl [110]: Occultists Charm
* Raiders (3) [130]: Captain
* Raiders (3) [130]: Captain
* Bearsarks (3) [160]:
* Steel-Chosen (3) [160]:
== (Warlord) Jarl [120]: Reyngeir, the God Spear
* Raiders (3) [130]: Captain
* Steel-Chosen (3) [160]:
* Bow-Chosen (3) [180]:
* Huskarls (5) [250]:
== Shaman [80]:
* Ulfhednar (3) [150]:
* Ice Jotnar (1) [240]: Everyone raves about the Konungyr as warlord and I get it: everyone round one tribal tactic for your whole army is sick, add to that the giga-round of the Konungyr and you know you gonna face smash.
However I think the Jarl is also worth looking at: getting +1 on your Mortals and Exalted reinforcement rolls seems pretty good. Lights come on at 1-5, mediums 1-3 and turn three 1-5 basically guaranteeing your whole army on turn 3.
Add to that the Jarl still has Flank and you don’t need to worry about your reinforcement curve.
Three rounds of tribal tactics feels also enough to close out the swinging turns, atleast for now for me. And his activated part, getting Juggernaut, Inspired and Fearless is not to be underestimated. Getting fast onto the table in range of 11′ and then threatening the surpremacy turn is just *chefs kiss*
Double Jarl opens up double Bearsarks with another heavy who will come on board or double heavy, where one is a Bearsark as I displayed above. Putting the Warlord Jarl into a bit tankier Huskarl block, just to keep him save also feels alright.
Nevertheless, the main winner in this list are the Raiders: they feel completely unfair. You can choose, when you know the scenario if they should be medium or stay lights, depending on if you want/are able to score turn 2. Then they come onto the table 17′, get a resolve bonus through the captain and still are a huge nuisance for other light regiments. They are fast and they can clap.
Lukas brought this against my list.
=== The Last Argument of Kings ===
CoW Tribes! [2000/2000]
The W'adrhŭn
== (Warlord) Scion of War [150]: Authority
* Chosen of War (4) [270]:
* Warbred (3) [180]:
* Warbred (3) [180]:
== Chieftain [125]: War, Kiss of the Dilosaur
* Veterans (5) [260]:
* Slingers (4) [195]:
* Warbred (3) [180]:
* Braves (3) [125]:
== Matriarch Queen [105]: Death, History
* Braves (6) [230]:
This time mixing it up with two bigger blocks of Veterans and Braves combined with the Scion of War warlord for some Tenacious (1) chanting and Hardened (1) in the activated turn.
Slingers for some ranged backup, Matraich Queen for support and standard Warbreds to bring the beats 🙂
I was still a bit scared as I got my ass handed the last time Lukas palyed his Scion of War list. I wanted to be a bit safer with my Huskarls this time, but let’s see how it went.
We play the scenarion: Declined Flank
Six zones, all give 2 VP and you get extra if you seize 3 or more. On top of that you can deny one zone per round to count for seizing points.
You gotta be stable and fast and you can catchup if you are able to deny your opponent one zone and keep your own three, so often playing for either four zones on the left or right.
So great scenario for my list as I am able to run onto three zones on turn 2 with my Raiders or Ulfhednars!
Turn 1
Here come the first big strength of the Raiders into play: deciding after the scenarion if they are light/medium. I had three Raider and one Ulfhednar who could march 17′ onto the board claiming the zones turn 2. So I decided to make one Raider light and keep the other medium.
Lukas won the roll-off so I had to deploy first. I deployed my unit of raiders on the far left side. I rolled a 6 on my reinforcement for my Bow Chosen…. after beeing cocky this was supposed to happen 😀
He got his only light unit Slingers onto the table on the right side, far out of reach of my Raiders and played them defensively to jump them later.
Turn 2
I decided to bring on my Ulfhednar + Shaman for my pick to get more cards in, as well as getting my Huskarls flanked in. Additionally I rolled three mediums out of four onto the table and picked both Raiders and Steel Chosen to get pressure and scoring asap. My Bow Chosen also decided to turn up.
Lukas got his Braves + Queen, his Veterans + Chieftain and one unit of Warbred.
I picked the right zone to not score and he picked also the right zone to not be scoring.
My card deck was unsurprising: stalling out at first with my heroes, followed my Raiders which obviously had to go and score, leaving my last activations to Steel Chosen and Huskarls (proxied here because I took the wrong units with me to gaming night… shame on me!)
As said standard setup: right zone I packed one scoring Raiders onto it. Middle zone I packed my Ulfs with Shaman onto it touching it with just a corner. Left zone I packed scoring Raiders onto it.
I decided my gameplan was as follows: strong left side, because I had more space there because the house was a bit slanted to the right side. On the right side I packed my Huskarl brick with Jarl and trying to play a bit more defensive with them because I was sure the CoW+Scion would come bringing the hammer there.
My Raider on the left side stepped forward a bit just outside of his Juggernaut range.
Scoring went 6:2 for Nords
Warbred and Raiders eying eachother for blood.
Turn 3
Turn three, time for the heavies. Bearsarks got flanked with Jarl, I picked the Ice Jötnar and had one remaining Steel Chosen which also passed the reinforcement roll on a 5.
He got his Chosen of War and another unit of Warbred in.
I won surpremacy and chose no tribal tactics and no active surpremacy because I wasn’t setup yet.
I picked his center zone to not score, thinking that I could either threaten his left zone with my Raider or his right zone with my Huskarls and maybe contest the scoring if I wanted to.
He picked my right zone again.
I will heavily outactivated him this turn, having all 13 cards on against his 9, so I could setup with my last 3-4 cards depending who would go first. Sweet!
I stalled out the game at first, just reformed my Ulfhednar and keeping them mostly as far back on the zone in the middle as possible. Lukas also tried to stall out the round. I got my first Raider card and decided to activate my unit on the left, to try and charge on a 6. I missed the charge but I wasn’t loosing much: either I got it, or I went forward a bit. If he wanted to move with his Warbreds he would have to go off the zone.
More setup went and his last card where his Warbred and Lukas decided for a charge into my Raiders. I think his reasoning was that next turn I would Jarl surpremacy anyway and would have even more time to setup more pieces to come in crashing so he wanted to try and take out those guys first.
Weeeeeeell, Raiders still only save on D1 E1 with Tenacious1 but 6 Impacts and 19 Attacks later, they still stood strong with 2 wounds left on my command stand.
As I was outactivation him I had my other Raiders on the left side charging-clashing into this Warbred dealing only 5 wounds.
my last activations where my Bearsarks going onto my left side to try and slice through the Warbreds, my Ice Jötnar occupying the left side to be a worthy foe for his CoW, my Huskarls where positioning themselves into Juggernaut range, as well as my Steel Chosen in the middle walking into Juggernaut range ready to smash into the Braves!
Scoring went another 6 points for Nords and only 2 points for W’adruhn making it 12:4.
Charge and get yourselves some loot you grunts!
Proxied Bearsarks and empy bases for my Huskarls….but atleast the Ice Jötnar shines through!
Turn 4
Setup was over, time for face smashing! I knew I had the activation and tempo advantage and was already in position to strike, so Jarl Surpremacy would activate.
Picking Steel Chosen, Raider, Raider, Steel Chosen first because I had the models in place: Either I would win surpremacy and go right down the middle or could respond if Lukas would go first. Then stalling a bit, because my other activations weren’t important to be fast. And going last with Ice Jötnar, Huskarls to keep my right side open because I didn’t want to give his CoW a target.
Okay, so many things happened. First I won surpremacy, I picked my Jarl active and activated Relentless Blows with it.
I went down the middle with my Steel Chosen and 19 A, 22 Hits later I managed to kill two stands braves and threatening the middle zone.
He had his Braves next, coming from the left side onto the zone to try and score to still keep his block in the middle usable.
I had my left Raiders with the command stand next, thinking I wanted to make the most out his last 5A and my card, doing a bunch of damage to his Warbred and even killed 2 stands leaving them broken.
Lukas responeded with Warbred and chose the unit in the middle and clapped my Steel Chosen in the flank and wiped them, leaving the Warbred open for a charge of my Bearsarks later but freeing his Braves.
I had my other left hand Raiders again attacking and wiping out the remaing Warbreds thanks to Relentless Blows+Flurry and still could charge his Braves because I was inspired and hindering his Braves from scoring (thanks Jarl!)
Then he stalled with heroes, I positioned my other Steel Chosen on the left side to keep incoming reinforcing Warbred honest and as I had the card advantage he had to make the first move.
He tried a charge on 6 with his Veterans into my Huskarls, failing to make it. As well as trying a march+charge on 6 with his Braves+MQ in the Middle onto my Ulfhednar which could be very bad for me…but also failed this one.
So I had free reign to clap back: my Bearsarks went into the Flank of his Warbred in the Middle, wiping them out. My Huskarls charge+clashed into his Veterans block, doing all but 2 wounds on the last stand nearly wiping them out and hindering them. And on the right side I positioned my Raider to block his CoW from charging into my Huskarls of Ice Jötnar and from just walking onto the zone, keeping them at bay.
Left side, in firm Nord hands…. However Bow Chosen can’t score 🙁
Right side, Huskarls obliteration Veterans and Raiders blocking CoW, and behind them the mighty Ice Jötnar!
Scoring went 4 points for Nords and 2 for W’adruhn making it 18:6 for Nords.
As the evening was quite advanced and Lukas was a bit shaken by the smashing of the Nords we decided to cut it short and he conceded to me.
Closing thoughts
It felt really great getting the tempo on the table! Getting two flanks and such a solid reinforcement curve feels great in play.
Raiders are super strong, Relentless Blows+Flurry is just a combo which shouldn’t exist to be honest. (But that’s not surprising)
I think this game was played very clean by me and my opponent agreed at our after game talk. Maybe some positioning mistakes here and there could have gone better, but that’s something you can always improve at Conquest!
Brave are still surprisingly tough with a MQ in there I have to say and still the threat of a Heal 4 Draw Event is strong, especially if he can get it off on his Chosen of War!
Hope you enjoyed this War report. If you have any feedback or questions feel free to write us a comment!
Hope to see you in Eä!
Daniel “Extune”