Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings. Two 750 point battle reports

 So after last week's defeat to Andy's evil Spire list, I face off against Chris' City States, before he then faced the Spire...

Chris has started painting his City States, going for a turquoise cloak for his Polemarch and "Lochagos" officer...

Chris's Army of 745 consisted of a Polemarch leading 5 stands of Hoplites, 3 Minotaur Thyreans and 3 stands of Phalangites led by a Lochagos officer. 

I had a Blooded as Warlord, with Aspect of the Bear, Reyngeir, the god Speir and Curse of the Vargr. Essentially, he is a Brute and hits hard. He led 5 Ugrs, with a second unit of 4 Ugr and a unit of 3 Werewolves.

We were playing the same First blood Scenario as it was 750pts

TURN 1 & 2

Turn 1 saw me delay the Werewolves and nothing able to come on for Chris. So Turn 2, I brought on my Warlord's Ugr's and failed to get the other two units on. Chris brought on his Warlord and his Hoplites, seizing the far right objective.

Chris scored 3 VP's for having that objective...

TURN 3

I got both my units on thanks to my Warlord's "Call the Hunt" Supremacy Ability. Chris got his Phalangites on, but not his Minotaurs. My Warlord's Ugr's took the centre right objective while my four strong unit took the left while my Werewolves sped up on the left of the buildings facing the phalangites

that Chris had advancing on the left objective

With Chris's sitting on the far right scoring again, my Ugr's pulled back the score to 6-6 all

TURN 4

We both had equal activations, and both of us took or held  two zones, Chris with his infantry and me with my Ugr's. 

The Minotaurs came up and faced off against my large unit

While my Werewolves marched up to threaten the Phalangites next turn

My Ugr's sat back on the objective, in response to Chris and Andy saying I dont play objectively...

And the Hoplites and my Ugr's and both Warlords played the objective game...

With both of us scoring 6 points, we tied moved onto 12-12 each

If I got to go first, the Werewolves would charge the Phalangites, but there would be a risk of the Minotaurs flanking me...

TURN 5

I won the roll off... and charged!!!

The Phalangites cancelled my impact hits and also denied me the ability to inspire but with 18 attacks, I scored 6 hits...

But Chris managed to make a few saves before his resolve

but failed enough to lose a stand, meaning I contested the zone as it stood. The Phalangites attacked back scoring 3 wounds...

Chris didn't move up the Minotaurs to flank the Werewolves, as that would have exposed his rear to my Ugr's. Contesting the objective allowed me to edge ahead 18-15 on victory points...

TURN 6

I got the first activation again, and my Werewolves attacked (but only after Andy pointed out I regenerated the three wounds they'd suffered). I was still unable to inspire though and scored only 3 wounds

Having already secured the 3 points with my 4 Ugr unit, and Chris only going to be scoring 3 as I moved up my Warlords unit to block any attack on the Werewolves but also to see what the Minotaur Thyreans could do

Well, they hit hard to say the least. 9 impact hits with brutal impact 1, followed by 16 (with leader) cleave 3, clash 4 (on the charge)... Yeah, they hit damn hard, breaking my Ugr's

With us both scoring another three points, and my Werewolves still contesting the game ended with

NORDS 21 VP's         CITY STATES 18 VP's

Well, I played the objectives but really was more than luck by design that the Warlord got on the objective and the Werewolves were able to contest and allow me to sneak it. We didn't really get to see the City States do much but they do have a "Strategic deck" that is pretty cool and are a strategic army. I I didn't expect the Minotaur's to hit as hard as they did, even though they look like they would. 

GAME 2

So for the third game, Andy faced Chris, same mission...

Chris's Army was as above,  745pts consisting of a Polemarch leading 5 stands of Hoplites, 3 Minotaur Thyreans and 3 stands of Phalangites led by a Lochagos officer. 

Andy ran a Pheromancer Warlord(205pts worth): Suppress survival Instinct, Cascading Degeneration, Plaguelord, Lvl 1-3 Flesh Retinue in 5 stands of Force grown Drones, with 3 Stands of Force grown Drones, 3 Brute Drones and an Abomination. 

With two light units, Andy felt this scenario was there for Chris to win as he could outscore Andy and play defensive,,,

TURNS 1 & 2

Only Andy got a unit on Turn 1, his smaller Force Grown Drones moving up on the left.

Chris's first unit on was his small Phalangites and he reversed his earlier deployment against me, with his unit taking the objective on his left, scoring 3 VP's

Andy had brought his Pheromancer and his large block of force grown Drones down centre, but again, they couldn't control a zone. Chris brought his Polemarch unit on and moved up into the woods as his Phalangites sat back.

Chris now sat on 6 VP's to Andy's nil...

                                                      TURN 3

The Polemarch and his Hoplites advanced out the Woods to seize another zone

All units were now on, with Andy brining the Brute drones on on his left and finally scoring while the Abomination went on the right to go after the five point zone held by the Phalangites. Chris brought the Minotaurs on centrally.

Chris had a solid defensive line as Andy moved his forces up.

Andy was a bit delayed with bringing his forces together given they're speeds...

Andy had scored 3 VP's but Chris was well ahead on 9 VP's

TURN 4

Chris was out activated but kept rolling low so he was usually going first. He drew back the Phalangites to keep the Abomination at bay, Chris brought up the Brutes level with his small unit of FG Drones.

As Chris set up for the right side with his Hoplites, Andy made a 50/50 charge on the Minotaurs. he rolled well but Chris did too saving several of the hits and taking three wounds in total...

Andy had left the objective, so the turn ended with Chris on 15 VP's to Andy's 3 VP's

TURN 5

Chris went first, taking 14 hits from Andy's Decay. This killed a Minotaur, the remaining pair dropping just 4 FG drones due to some bad dice...

Andy moved his smaller Force grown drones into the zone, to bait the Hoplites but Chris didnt take it as he had more stands in the zone. Small error from Andy and a crucial one.

The Abomination charged into the end zone and the Phalangites...

With only 2 impact hits and no inspiring, the Abomination still managed to kill a stand and thus secured the zone...

This brought the scores to Andy's Spire 8 VP's while Chris's City States were up on 18 VP's 

TURN 6

Chris reformed then charged the Force Grown drones, engaging but not attacking and denying Andy an opportunity to bring more stands in...

The Pheromancer looked on as but couldn't change the outcome, even as the Abomination finished off the Phalangites...

END OF TURN 6

SPIRES 13 VP's       CITY STATES 21 VP's

Chris played a sound strategic battle and beat Andy's decaying and regenerating army. Playing the scenario is sometimes the way to defeat the better, harder army and the City States are certainly not an easy army to use (like Nords). They are very nuanced and I know Chris is looking forwrad to seeing the Chariot when its out. Had the Minotaurs got the charge into the Pheromancer, they could have ravaged them but Andy took chances and did enough to almost swing the game...

END OF 750 POINT ROUND

NORDS 1 Win, 1 Loss

SPIRE 1 Win, 1 Loss

CITY STATES 1 Win, 1 Loss

CONQUEST: LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS 750pts NORDS v SPIRE

 So after a summer break from Conquest, Chris, Andy and I are running a round robin, slow grow competition between ourselves, for me to build up my Nords and Chris to do his City States. Andy is in it to cause us pain with his dirty Spire lists...

First up was my Nords v Spire...

I had a Blooded as Warlord, with Aspect of the Bear, Reyngeir, the god Speir and Curse of the Vargr. Essentially, he is a Brute and hits hard. He led 5 Ugrs, with a second unit of 4 Ugr and a unit of 3 Werewolves.

The Werewolves were printed by a friend, and are awesome looking for my Brute themed list

They also scale perfectly well

Andy's list was as below

Pheromancer Warlord(205pts worth): Suppress survival Instinct

Cascading Degeneration, Plaguelord, Lvl 1-3 Flesh Retinue in 5 stands of Force grown Drones, with 3 Stands of Force grown Drones, 3 Brute Drones and an Abomination. 

We were playing the Broken lines scenario

TURNS 1 & 2

Turn 1 saw me bring on my werewolves on my left and Andy His Pheromancers FG Drones on my right. Turn 2 saw me bring on my Ugrs to face them off, as Andy brought on his small FG drones unit alongside his Warlords unit

I was hoping ot use the Werewolves to draw out his Abomination later

As it was, end of turn saw the Werewolves facing off against some Brute Drones...

TURN 3

I won first activation and charged the Brutes with the Werewolves. I didn't take my Bloodlust test, but in reading it, it wouldn't have made any difference. I did to see if I would pass, and I was ok.

I cut down one of the Brutes...

On the right, Andy moved up his small FG drones then charged to pin my 4 Ugrs in place

My whole force was on and awaiting the Abomination. My large unit of Ugr would go for Andy's Pheromancer

My right UGR scored 3pts for controlling the zone.

TURN 4

The Werewolves had lost a stand when the Brutes attacked, and sure enough Andy brought the big fella in to support. My Werewolves activated first, but rolled poorly and Andy didn't even lose a Brute.

He then healed the wounds from the Pheromancer activating and improved the small unit of FG drones resolve. That didnt stop my Ugr's smashing eight of them to the ground. Sadly, the regenerate 4 when they activate, so healed a stand...

The Abomination flanked my Werewolves...

I needed at least two 1's to save (before resolve)

The Abomination proceeded to eat my new models... Shame!!!

Andy elected to not charge my Ugrs (as he was worried about my Blooded and his Ugr's)

The Brutes moved into a zone, so we both scored three this round putting me 6-3 ahead

TURN 5

My Ugr's got first activation and sadly left one little Spireling alone

Andy brought the Abomination up to threaten my big unit of Ugr's next turn, so I had to turn and face it.

And on my Blooded's activation, he moved to the front. Weren't sure this was allowable, but seemed to make sense give he could jump out to another unit

With that unit now facing the wrong way, Andy charged his large FG block into my Ugr's contesting teh zone, allowing him to draw level at 6-6

TURN 6

I got the first draw again and charged in to the Abomination. Sadly, I clipped the woods so lost my impact hits which would have been great (the blooded had Impact 6 and Brutal impact 2). I did eight wounds on the Abomination.

On the right flank, I'd lost an Ugr to the large units charge last turn.

As I activated, Andy's Decay kicked in, where an enemy regiment takes hits based on enemy stands in contact with it. I reasoned this would be 4, plus 6, plus 4 for 14 in total.

Andy reasoned it would be 24 in total, as some of my stands were in contact with two enemy stands. We agreed my interpretation, but would welcome any correction if I was wrong?

I thogut fourteen was bad enough, but then made nine saves so was pretty chuffed

Still lost an Ugr, but my attacks finished off the smaller unit and dropped five from the larger one...

I even survived the attack back. The Abomination managed to down two of my Warlord's unit...

As the Brute Drones closed in ready for next turn...

First turn next turn would be a real game decider, with the Brute in the zone taking Andy ahead for the first time 9-6

TURN 7

Andy won first activation for first time and his Abomination cut down two more Ugrs, breaking my unit. So I rallied, and attacked back, easily taking the few wounds left and felling the beast...

Still, I knew what was coming...

Although Andy did do his Pheromancer next to heal up his FG drones...

Before smashing down my last Ugr and forcing my Blooded to flee...

I then activated my last model, who took 10 decay hits...

And keeled over...

END OF TURN 7 (& Game)

SPIRE 11 VP's

NORDS 7 VP's

Ok, so we ignored the scenario and went for each other. Andy's Pheromancers was awesome, healing a ot but decay 6 for him and 4 for each stand. Nasty. Having said that, my blooded was a beast and but for the woods he'd have dropped the Abomination on the charge with his impact hits. A good tart for Andy and Chris is fretting that his 750 list has nothing to deal with either of our forces. I'll report the next two games next week