We have another wonderful round of TTS Conquest to learn from! This time it’s against a Might Raiding Party. We are given the scenario Grind Them Down and I am pretty nervous about this game! Nords are really strong and this scenario is one that really requires smart play as the points don’t tick up extremely fast.

We know it and love it. I have a few things I would like to try in Spires after this tournament but I’ve loved this list.

Yeeeeesh. This is a terrifying list. They are almost Yoroni in that they can ignore the stack with that many copies of units. They hit LIKE A TRUCK. And they’re fast and they ALL can score. Nords are a tricky puzzle to fight against for sure.

Pre Game

A very straightforward scenario, terrain made the board split into diagonal thirds. I look at this game and feel that if I can use my ranged regiments well I will be able to push through and win.

I don’t know what in his list is able to effectively kill my Force Grown Drones, and I am also not sure what in my list can survive contact with the enemy otherwise. His list, even his Nerdy Little Raiders, will hit EXTREMELY hard. Also the ability to stack tenacious is so brutal.

Early Game

Round One – Drey doesn’t have any lights, so I put some Vanguard Clones up the board and we call it a round.

Round Two – And here come the Nords! I only got one of my Mediums on, my opponent is able to get Raiders onto the zones and score a solid 6 points, I opt to bring on my FGD and Brutes, hoping to get some serious power players on the board as though my opponent has Quantity, I definitely have the Quality.

Round Three – I get a little nervous this round, I need to get points on the board and I also need to get to MURDERING THINGS. Thankfully the pendulum swings back and my Reinforcement Rolls are VERY hot this round and I am able to get the army on the board. The only fights that really happen this round are my Vanguard Clones getting an epic charge into the Raiders, and instantly FLUBBING so hard on the damage roll. Doing literally nothing. Drey is very scared (rightly so) about my FGD getting onto the center zone because if they do, he will not be able to shift them. I am able to charge them and do all but 1 wound, next round I will get onto that zone though! Right side is a bit more wild, I underestimate the damage from the Raiders and send my Brute Drones (Will all the nice Pheromancer Defensive Buffs in) I lose a lot for that and I start to feel the pressure…again… Round ends 6-9 for Drey!

Mid Game

Round Four – We are crawling back! The ranged portions of the army are getting into the swing of things and Nords are starting to die! The middle has become the land of FGD, there is now not much that can touch them effectively until I choose to kill that Raider unit. Left side is Weak and floundering and right side is paying for my Unchecked Aggression. I hit the gas WAY too early this game. I was scared of the Nords that for sure and it’s showing in my play. Round ends 9-10 for Drey.

Round Five – Sadly each flank has collapsed. Looking back on this game I have learned a LOT about what I did wrong, especially for a scenario like this that isn’t what I would call super “Live” (Meaning it doesn’t ramp score quickly, most points you can get is 6 per round). Even with the board state as bleak as it is I am currently only down 1 point. Imagine if I had pumped the brakes a LIL BIT and used my ranged presence more. I would still have my Pheromancer. I could have taken over a flank. Also I think there are some real errors in my deployment choices on this map. I really like the FGD in the center, but otherwise I think I made some errors.

End Game

Dread it, Run from it, It is inevitable. Drey cleans up my remaining regiments and then stares at the FGD in disgust and fear. Round 7 ends and we talk through the remainder of the game

After all the rounds of scoring uncontested and the ability to hop regiments off zones and onto the other Chosen Zones my opponent racks up an impressive amount of points and we end the game 16-43 for a Drey victory.

Post Game

First off, Drey and I had a blast playing each other. Nords are terrifying and the amount of choice spamming that many of the same unit game him was WILD.

Now when I write about this next part please know I have nothing but positive feelings for my opponents the last few games. I simply put am in a rut, I have lost SO many games lately. In fact. I’ve lost all of them lately. Even the ones I don’t write about! I’m losing in video games, and tabletop games, and that’s okay! Each of these games is practice, an opportunity to improve. A chance to fail now, so that in tournament play I can succeed. I try my best to learn from my mistakes and hopefully not make them again (I am struggling with “Don’t go so aggressive” the past few games but I’ll figure it out). I guess want to say is, thanks for reading and commenting and chatting with me about the game even though I lose a bunch!

What I Did Well – I was pretty happy with my FGD and Ranged Units. I didn’t need the Debuff from the Desolation Drones and was happy they could support the left flank. I think I had a solid plan for the game. I saw red and got a little too bloodlust-y but I can iron out those problems.

What I Did Poorly – I was hitting the gas WAY too hard this game. I think the big thing I needed to notice was my opponent had more cards than me. I had better ranged power. That means, I have to play a bit slower. I don’t need to be March Charging key units into random raiders when I’m only down 3 points round 3. I also was VERY much unaware of how much damage they would do. A bit more questions about what a list does, what a unit does, and how scary they are would’ve gone a long way.

What My Opponent Did Well – Just excellent use of the higher card count. He was always able to have key units activate in the proper time. That much spam of the same unit is WILD and it felt like fighting Yoroni. He was able to activate basically whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.

All in all a fantastic game with a fantastic opponent! Thanks for reading! We will be back soon with more great write ups! Feel free to reach out and talk shop. Let me know what you think! Help me improve!