Sorcerer Kings Battle Reports!

Life is starting to get into a good rhythm, family is healthy and recovering, twins are growing nicely. Got to sneak into the game store for some conquest! Had one and a half great games of conquest *Spoiler, second game I had to leave a touch early, but it was against weaver courts and was interesting enough I thought it would be worth covering*

I tried out the Trinvarta Chandavat today and dropped the Vizier of the Morning Star for some chip healing on my Disciples with Elemental Feedback

Ty is swapping from his beloved Wadrhun for the first time in like…I dunno 3 years? And playing some Yoroni. I have played a lot of Yoroni so I know how absolutely brutal they can be. Thankfully it’s only one Geisha Spider Lady, but there are still some very terrifying elements to this list.

Early Game

Round 1 – Those houses are impassable, so I was pretty much giving away my strategy of “Ignore the right side” (Also those two Tengu on the left aren’t on the board yet we know they’re mediums don’t worry)

Round 2 –

Some Patented Court of Air shenanigans, move forward, do some reforms with spell casting, then eat some shots from Tengu. The reforms allowed me to have a 5″ charge with both units of Ghols into each of their targets (The Domaru and The Tengu respectively) Ty goes very balanced with his deployment and I go again hard left

Round 3 and 4 – Things finally connect in earnest these rounds I start shooting A LOT of things. Both Ghols make their 5″ charges with the reroll (Really lucky) and I am able to kill some birds and some Domaru. The Ghols understandably die quickly to the big Oni block, but that means they’re now in range of my shooting and I do some serious work on them, to the point that there is only one left and even if the Spider heals them they won’t get a stand back (The ability to concentrate damage onto a target from 18″ out is WILD in the court of Air)

Big Bird flies in from the side and cleans up the Tengu, and here is a crucial error (And the funny part is I distinctly remember thinking it was a bad idea) I put both Steelheart units on the right side. This scenario is one where you choose zones not to score, so even though he had early scoring through the speed of the Birds, and control of the right side I was only down by 2 points at this point of the game. My left side is so strong it just needs some nails in the coffin. Hindsight is of course 20/20 but I really should’ve sent the character unit of Steelheart to finish the fight on the left and had the MSU Steelheart be a distraction agent/steal or score some points on the right side.

Mid Game

Round 5

On the right side, a few quick spells kill the Domaru and then the Steelheart charge the Tengu

On the Left my Trinvarta EXPLODES to a single Kami and a single Kitsune. It was a hilarious round and you gotta roll with the punches, but without exaggerating, I failed 98% of my defense rolls across this whole round. As stated earlier. I had gameplay and deployment errors, those I am frustrated about and will work to correct. Dice being wild is just a funny wave to roll with. The Tengu march charge into my gunline but don’t do really any significant damage. Spider is Spider-ing MENACINGLY but I am running out of options to kill that spider unless I can get my gunline untangled (Sure would’ve been nice to have that Raj/Steelheart unit on the left side)

Endgame

Round 6

And here is the end of the line. The writing is now on the wall sadly. I clear the Windborne but not the Disciples. I am out of things that are able to kill the spider and we call it there. It was a dangerously close game against one of the strongest factions in the game so I feel happy about that. My gameplay errors definitely haunted me here. Even with the terrible dice midgame I think I had a much better chance if I had followed my initial plan of Ignore Right.

Game Two!

I keep the same list and set up again into Mike and his new shiny Weaver Courts a few days later. Full disclosure I had to leave this game before a clear resolution was able to be seen, but the game was so interesting and Weaver Courts are so new I figured I would still do a write up and get people some exposure to the Fun Guys (Huehuehue) of the Weaver Courts.

Early Game

We both play pretty cagey, I set up layers this game as that is something Ty and I had talked about. Ghols, Initiates, Disciples and Djinn

I take some early game tempo due to cute reforms from the Ghols and just the power of (Checks notes) 1000000 arrows. Mike pushes very aggressively with the Ciannir to push the reinforcement line forward a lot. Spiteful winds does an inordinate amount of damage this game as there are many regiments and they’re decently close together with victim defensive stats. I have a severe range advantage over the Kern and am able to force the Weavers to push forward more aggressively

Then Moosen Dawn happen. We basically flip sides. My left side just crushes through his like a wave, but the Gemred’s are the apocalypse. Just melting anything they touch. Doesn’t matter if it’s charge clash or march charge. They’re taking a unit off the table. The Coill Draic is…Lackluster. It comes up very far forward due to the reinforcement line from the moths but just…doesn’t accomplish much.

At this point sadly my children have become completely tired and fed up with the toys they have. We have to call it at the end of the next round. I kill the left side and Mike kills my archers and initiates on the right side. I still have steelhearts to be obnoxious on the right side, but Mike still has the Moosen Dawn and the Coill Draic. I think Mike will be able to power through and win by a few points but it’s too close to call. I have a lot of shots that can pepper things as they try to approach the center.

Closing Thoughts

Alrighty. First things first. The new faction.

Weavers were really cool. I personally LOVE the aesthetic and the looks. So that’s pretty much all it takes for me to buy something. I think the army rule, having seen it in person now, is a bit too unwieldy and clunky. It came up a few times, where I would have dread applied due to the Winter Bloom. The other seasons were never relevant but that was mainly due to me being a Court of Air list. What do Dhanur Disciples care about 2d6 choose the lowest dice? Or whatever that rule is. I think the Gemred Lord upgrade is lame. It should be as powerful as Bound to the Elements where it actually makes the Seanchas Sidhe as brutal as a Moose. I liked the Hunters and Skirmishers, and I weirdly liked the Krann. They were just so dang tanky great to sit on points and score. Weavers definitely felt like a new faction, where things weren’t quite all there. But they have great potential and are gorgeous models so I’ll be snagging some 🙂

What I did well: I set up much more effective lines of engagement and protected my ranged elements for much longer. I was able to use my Raj/Steelheart much better in game two

What I did Poorly: Besides losing my Trinvarta in one activation EVERY SINGLE GAME, just the error with the Steelhearts game one was the big one. When you have a gameplan, don’t get weird about it round 4 and ignore your better sense.

Things my opponents did well: Mike did some very cool positioning where he was able to really limit the power of the Chandavat I was okay with where it was because Chandavat’s do not want to be shooting Krann but it was very clever. Basically he put his unit 12.1″ away from the back of the Ghols, so that the bird could not walk forward and shoot it would have to hop over the Ghols to shoot anything. Ty did great at playing from behind and using the power of Yoroni, seriously. Never underestimate the power of one Oni and one Yoroni Character. It’s insane damage.

Thanks again for reading! Hope to be back soon! I did promise Mike a rematch for his bugs, but I will be moving into Court of Fire now. Did you like the extra pictures with the lines of movement? I am not sure about them but I feel like they do add a bit of information especially as regiments die. As always feel free to reach out and talk shop 🙂