…A Whole New World…

It is April ’24, and Conquest’s 8th new faction is finally here. The Sorcerer Kings have arrived both literally and figurately. I have the models in my hands, but today I shall not paint. Today my friends, we are going take a look at the rules of the faction and what makes them so special. I promise to try to contain the Aladdin references.

For reference, you can find the free army list rules on Para-Bellum Games’ website here.

Also, if you are interested in saving 10% off your Conquest purchases and supporting the site, check out this post here!

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So who are these Sorcerer Kings Anyway?

Well, a long time ago (presumably), on a planet far far away (Ea to be precise)…

The ancestors of the modern day Sorcerer Kings were actually part of The Old Dominion. This utopian-ish society was ruled over by the god Hazlia and a pantheon of his closest pals. Hazlia, in his not so infinite wisdom, fractured himself into multiple (i.e. a ton of) celestial beings to help manage and steer mankind’s future. The one thing he didn’t count on was that multiple personality disorder is a sickness, and he was slowly starting to go insane.

Well, two of his followers noticed. The one guy we know of, Constantius Domulexor, felt that the best course of action was try and safeguard humanity from the coming cataclysm and laid the foundations of the modern day City States by creating haven cities for humanity with a new culture hell bent on the preservation of knowledge and science.

His unnamed compatriot, The First Magos of the Dominion Collegia, took a more direct approach to the problem. Can’t have a cataclysm if you just go ahead and kill the god that would be responsible! Well, that plan didn’t quite work as smoothly as they hoped. What was meant to be an assassination turned into a celestial war, and the cataclysm that he hoped to avoid ended up happening anyway; The Fall. Yep, that Fall. The one that plunged Ea into over 600 of darkness.

Well, when everything went fubar, The First Magos and all of his sorcerer pals did the only sensible thing when god and angel carcasses are raining from the heavens…they fled. After they fled far enough away, they used magic to raise a new continent out of the ocean, made pacts with some primordial elemental forces, and stabilized some of the ecosystem in their new home.

After the great exodus, the four surviving Sorcerer Kings quickly created the Elemental Courts (fire, wind, earth, and water) to rule over their burgeoning society and abdicated power so that they could go deal with super important celestial problems (that they accidentally created). As the population started to stabilize and grow, The Elemental Courts created semi-autonomous self governing Enclaves where everyone’s needs were met in a symbiotic relationship. The Enclaves serve the Courts by providing labor and new sorcerer recruits, and the Courts serve the Enclaves by providing magical protection and wealth. Over time, this new partnership of Man and Elementals flourished and everything was awesome…

…until homeless people from the ruins of The Old Dominion showed up out of no where! While the Sorcerer Kings had managed to recreate utopia for themselves, they didn’t have a plan for refugees. Deciding to go full xenophobe, the Sorcerer Kings shut these refugees out of their lands and forced them into a life of nomadic wandering. With the nomads out of sight, they were promptly forgotten as life moved on.

What the Sorcerer Kings didn’t know, was that these nomads were blessed by one of the old gods, Ninuah The Mother, before they left their ancestral home. So while the Sorcerer Kings flourished inside their Enclaves, so too did the nomads wandering the desolate wastelands outside of their walls.

After a while, the Elemental Courts got around to healing the rest of their man-made continent, and then the nomad populations exploded. This boom forced them back into conflict with the Enclaves over resources.

This war was so large in scope, that it brought the OG Sorcerer Kings out of retirement from the primordial planes to deal with it. And now that they are back, they have decided to unveil their centuries old plan to reinstate the glory of The Old Dominion…under their rule of course…

With all of that background out of the way, lets dive into the rules!

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Faction Special Rules

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Rituals

…It’s All So Magical…

Rituals are a new type of spell that can best be described as cooperative magic. It’s a big part of the Sorcerer Kings’ whole schtick, so lets break down how it works.

Wizard characters in the army (so everyone except the Sardar) gain a new free action called Elemental Rites that can be used in and out of combat.

When a wizard uses Elemental Rites for the first time, they select one of the Rituals they have access to on their datasheet and begin to manifest it. The ritual does not take effect immediately. Take the command card for the Ritual and place it off to the side. You must accrue a set number of ritual markers to complete the ritual by doing the following:

1. Draw a command card for +1 ritual marker for all rituals being manifested
2. Any wizard character can perform the Elemental Rites action to give any one currently manifesting ritual +2 markers
3. Other rules that add ritual markers under specific conditions (like Arcane Conduit)

Once a ritual has accrued enough points, the effect still doesn’t go off right away. At the start of your next command phase after you accumulate enough points, you place the command card for the ritual into your command stack. When it is revealed in the “Draw Command Card” step, the effects of the spell finally are resolved.

There are some additional restrictions as well. If a character dies, it obviously stops manifesting the Ritual (discarding it and losing all of its ritual markers), but this also happens If the regiment the character is attached to becomes broken. Lastly, you also can’t manifest multiple copies of the same ritual at the same time.

However, it is also important to note that wizards can be manifesting multiple different Rituals at the same time. It may not always make sense to do this, but it is possible.

4/9/24 Update:
Ritual costs were dropped considerably! Additionally, when you use Elemental Rites to start preparing a new Ritual, it gets a free ritual marker! These changes make them easier to prepare, meaning that in most turns you will have a Ritual in your command stack! Lastly, most Rituals will let you chain activate a regiment with the appropriate Born of Flame/Air rule matching the Ritual’s court.

All right, that was a lot of words…lets actually look at the Rituals themselves and see what they do!

Court of Fire Ritual Rankings:

1. Conflagration (S-Tier) – A free, out of activation, high likelihood of success spellcasting action in a faction full of wizards…yes please, sign me up. There are so many just downright nasty things you could do with this that should become immediately apparent when we cover the rest of the spells.
2. Intrusive Thoughts (S-Tier) – This Ritual is much improved after the 4/9/24 update! With so much objective denial already in the faction, being able to turn off a regiment’s ability to score is huge!
3. Incite Rage (A-Tier) – “See that regiment over there? I don’t want to see it anymore”. +1 Clash to any friendly regiment that charges the target regiment. This is pretty solid for breaking anvil units, but will require that you are able to set up some multi-charges.
4. Fiery Dominion (Meh-Tier) – If you are a CIA spook, an FBI criminal profiler, or have a doctorate level degree in psychology, you may be able to read your opponent well enough to make this be absolutely devastating. Chances are though, you are none of those things and this will not go the way you want it to 99% of the time.

Court of Air Ritual Rankings:

1. Sayf (S-Tier) – This one is pretty solid. Giving two units rerolls to failed hits is a big deal, but only if they can get into the flank or rear of the enemy. It will take some setting up to make this work, but chain activating into a flank charge afterwards can be really nasty.
2. Far Sight (A-Tier) – Look, everyone makes mistakes. You misread the battlefield, your opponent didn’t actually fall for your elaborately laid traps…just reorder your next three activations and try again.
3. Spiteful Winds (Meh-Tier) – This is the panic button spell that you have to plan for 1-2 turns in advance. I would rather not need the panic button spell in the first place, or have it not be tied to the Ritual mechanic. The effect is great, but getting the timing right on this will be very difficult. Also, this is what Ghols are for…but if they are already dead…

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Characters

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Maharajah: 120pt

Alright, so lets talk about Jafar…I mean the Maharajah.

Ya boy is a wizard supreme, and has the stats to go along with that archtype. Wizard (7) with an average spell attunement of 3 means that you can reliably count on your spells when you need them. The Maharajah has zero defensive/melee tech, so you want to keep them out of combat as much as possible…unless you give them the Lord of all They See upgrade to turn him into a rampaging elephant. You do have a big choice to make though when selecting the Maharajah as a warband leader…Court of Fire vs Court of Air.

Court of Fire nets you a strong damage spell in Burn to Cinders, averaging 6.5 hits per cast against an enemy in contact with a Born of Flame regiment. You also get a guaranteed 7 hits if you cast this with the Conflagration Ritual, which the Maharajah handily has access to. You also get a great buff spell in Wreathed in Flames, passing out Aura of Death (2) for some out of activation damage and potential healing if casted on a Born of Flame unit. Scorching Scirocco isn’t the most exciting debuff spell in the world, but turning off a nasty draw event can upset your opponent’s plans and swing a combat in your favor every so often. Just remember your buff/debuff spells here are Scaling, so you may want to pick up the Niyantran gift to make them more reliable to cast.

Court of Air also has a great damage spell in Lightning Bolt. Similar to Burn to Cinders, you can count on an average of 3.5 hits on your roll, but you get bonus hits equal to the modified Defense stat of your target. The higher their Defense, the more hits you do. You don’t get any debuffs in this Court, but you do get two buffs. Lifting Winds will get a unit an extra 2in of movement on the march, and Homing Winds will give a ranged unit FULL REROLLS until the end of the round on their Volley actions. Homing Winds has Scaling, so again the Niyantran helps if you are bringing a huge regiment of ranged damage dealers.

Your Court selection also fuels how you want to build your warband. Court of Fire will want to lean heavily into Rajakar and Efreet Sword Dancers so that you will have targets for Burn to Cinders. Court of Air will want to lean into Dhanur Disciples and Windborne Djinn to make use of Homing Winds. Remember that the Maharajah grants Born of Flame/Air to the regiment that they attach to, giving you some extra healing when you can buff multiple units in a turn.

As for Rituals, Conflagration is the big winner, letting you cast your awesome damage spells twice per turn. Just remember that a regiment can’t be targeted by the same spell twice in one round. Intrusive Thoughts has some play if you think you can pull a unit out of position. Fiery Dominion and Spiteful Winds will be a bit harder to use but will occasionally catch an opponent off guard.

Sorcerer(ess): 100pt

Much like the Maharajah, Princess Jasmine is a Wizard (7) extraordinaire. To put this in Magic: The Gathering terminology, where the Maharajah is mono-red, the Sorcerer is mono-blue. The theme here is control and subtlety. But don’t let that spell list fool you; she comes equipped with a 14in Barrage (3) attack with Volley (3) to sprinkle a little damage in from your backline.

Both Courts are filled to the brim with buffs and debuffs, and which court you ultimately choose will depend on how you build your force. Your sole damage spell is locked under Court of Air, and while it is good, it is also Scaling.

Your choice of Court here can be a hard one to make since all of the spells can have a huge impact on a game. Court of Air almost requires the Niyantran upgrade as all of the spells are Scaling. Court of Fire is great for abusing Searing Sandstorm. Regardless of which Court you choose, your Sorcerer needs to play a little close to the front line in order to have targets for the debuffs in both Courts, so make sure you keep her protected.

As for warband selection, both Courts have a spell that requires a unit of the opposite elemental alignment for full effect which can seem a bit unfocused at first glance. Wildfire from the Court of Air wants an Efreet Sword Dancer regiment, while Searing Sandstorm in the Court of Fire wants a regiment of Steelheart Djinn.

In the Ritual list, the standouts are Incite Rage and Sayf. A well timed Incite Rage can help a charge hit just a little bit harder and giving two regiments Opportunists with Sayf is always welcome. Far Sight can potentially help you out of a bind if you are unsure of what your opponent is going to do over the next couple of turns, but probably won’t see much use due to the 12 ritual marker cost. Intrusive Thoughts can occasionally be useful, but not at the cost of delaying Incite Rage and Sayf.

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Raj: 100pt

Wizards are people first, and some people are sociopaths. Enter the Raj, the premier (and only) duelist character of the Sorcerer Kings. Where the Maharajah and Sorcerer are all about helping your army win the day, the Raj is all about making himself stronger. Funnily enough, this makes him a strong contender for your warlord slot.

The Raj stat line doesn’t scream duelist at first glance. With average Clash and Defense stats and only one piece of offensive tech (albeit Flurry), you might hesitate to put him on the front lines.

The power of the Raj comes from his spell list. First of all, he belongs to both the Court of Air and the Court of Fire, granting both Born of Air and Born of Flame to any regiment he attaches to. Neat. Three of his four spells are self targeting offensive buffs, granting either Cleave (1) and Deadly Blades, Aura of Death (2) and Dread, or Counter-Attack and Parry…for his whole regiment. Starting to look better. Did I mention every time he casts a buff he heals his regiment? Under normal circumstances, he will only be able to cast one buff per turn but…

Oh look, Conflagration is in his Ritual list. Now you are potentially getting two of his buffs per turn (and two spurts of healing). He can also gain Elemental (see below) for three buffs in a turn whenever you complete Conflagration; one for the Ritual, one for the free action from Elemental, and one from his normal spellcasting action. Sayf is also there for Opportunists. Do we care about his other two rituals? The Raj doesn’t! He just wants to smash things.

Warband selection for the Raj is pretty straight forward. You want the Bound to the Elements upgrade to stick him in a regiment of Efreet Sword Dancers or Steelheart Djinn. Since that gets him an extra mastery choice…consider Vizier of the Morning Star which grants Unyielding and is great for scenario play. And since that upgrade is only for warlords, you also get Terrifying (+1) from the Arcane Dervish supremacy ability.

When filling up the rest of your warband, you want to heavily consider Elemental melee units that match the court of the support spells from your other characters. By loading up on your front line regiments in this warband, you free up your other warbands for other duties (mainly ranged DPS).

Since we are stacking so many elementals in one place, consider the Eye of the Blazing Tempest Patron’s Gift. A free action healing pulse that can affect 3-4 units on your front line is nothing to sneeze at.

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Sardar: 70pts

Let’s be frank. The Sardar exists for one reason…to make it harder for your enemy to seize objectives. The 4/9/2024 update doubles down on this and adds Arcane Conduit, helping you to complete Rituals while your Sardar sits on an objective zone waiting to die.

No fancy spells here, no fancy tech. While he is on the battlefield, all non-Elemental regiments count their command stand as two additional stands for seizing objectives. If you complete a Ritual before he activates, his regiment gains Unyielding until the end of the round.

He isn’t a great fighter with a Clash of 2 and a Defense of 3, but again, his only job is to be a thorn in your opponent’s plans. Your opponent will have to dedicate resources to killing his warband or risk losing the game on scenario. And while that is happening, all of your other warbands are happily raining magical destruction all over the place.

While I would advise keeping him cheap, the Dancing Scimitar and Prijm Khanjar gifts could help increase his regiment’s offensive output a little. The Best Money can Buy mastery can also give his regiment (which should always be Rajakur) some extra defensive tech to keep them alive a little longer.

As for warband selection, this is a great home for any Rajakur regiments you may have. Keep the warband small, throw them at an objective and force your opponent to deal with it. Bonus points if that objective is clear on the other side of the battlefield so that the enemy units are out of place to do anything meaningful for the rest of the game once the Sardar eventually dies. If you want this warband to play a more central role in your deployment, consider adding a Mahut for some damage to help them thin out the enemy ranks.

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Upgrades

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Regiments

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Infantry

Ghols:

Cost: 110pt
Class: Light
Type: Melee
Use: Speedbump

Poor stupid little elementals. This regiment is doesn’t have a lot going for it in a stand up fight, and will die to a stiff breeze. However, they do make for excellent roadblocks. With a Move value of 6, Unstoppable, and Vanguard they can get up the table pretty quickly to pin an enemy regiment in place for a turn or two. They also have the ability to choose Born of Flame or Born of Air. When targeted with an appropriately aligned buff for a little healing, you may be able to squeeze one extra turn out of them.

They are okay for what they do, but they are a little pricey coming in at 110 points for a 9 Wound regiment of magical chaff. Bonus points if you manage to side charge an Incite Rage target after completing the Sayf ritual…an unexpected 7 attacks per stand at Clash 3 can put in some work. Likely to happen? No. But is it funny? Yes.

Rajakur:

Cost: 120pt
Class: Medium
Type: Melee
Use: Speedbump +1, Anvil, Objective Denier/Holder

Our elite infantry regiment doesn’t feel so elite. They do come with a Unstoppable standard bearer, Shield ,and Hardened (1). The stats are slightly below average with a Clash and Defense of 2. This regiment really needs a Sardar on the field to be good at their job, but for only 10 points over the Ghols they feel like a solid improvement.

Dhanur Disciples:

Cost: 140pt
Class: Medium
Type: Ranged
Use: Ablative Wounds for a Wizard

Well, we needed a regiment for the Sorcerer and Maharajah to attach to, and this is it. With a Barrage (5) 20in Arcing Fire volley action, this is a great home for your spellcasters that don’t want to be on the front lines. Averaging only five hits per volley with a Volley stat of 2, they really need some help from Homing Winds (full rerolls to hit) to get any real work done…and there are way better targets for Homing Winds.

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Brutes

Efreet Flamecasters:

Cost: 160pt
Class: Medium
Type: Ranged
Use: DPS, Court of Fire Synergy

Now we are talking! Barrage (5) 14in Torrential Fire that acts as tracer fire for the Maharajah? I’m in. They only have a Volley stat of 2 so don’t expect atomic levels of destruction…though extra hits from Torrential Fire does help. So does a free action Take Aim for activating a Ritual right before this regiment for Volley 3 and 20in of threat range thanks to Elemental…

As fire aligned Elementals, they also come with expected rule Born of Flame.

The big draw here is Infernal Marker; every time this regiment targets an enemy regiment with a volley, any Court of Fire spells that target that regiment get a free success. That is an awesome boost to Burn to Cinders, which was already an awesome spell.

Didn’t account for that flank charge and they happen to get wiped out? Just as planned! Infernal Release will let you auto-complete a Court of Fire Ritual…say like Conflagration for more spell shenanigans next turn!

Efreet Sword Dancers:

Cost: 170pt
Class: Medium
Type: Melee
Use: DPS, Court of Fire Synergy

The melee equivalent to Flamecasters. Similar tech, but more stabby. With Impact (3), six attacks, and a Clash of 3, these pyromaniacs will put in some good work on the front lines.

They come with their own version Infernal Marker called Infernal Branding. It has the same effect as the former but triggers on enemy regiments engaged with them.

Infernal Release, Born of Flame, and Elemental all make an appearance here as well, with all of the same synergies found in their Flamecaster brethren.

Windborne Djinn:

Cost: 190pt
Class: Medium
Type: Ranged
Use: DPS, Court of Air Synergy

So, copy everything I said about Efreet Flamecasters, change the element to air, and you have Windborne Djinn. For 30 extra points though, you trade Torrential Fire for 20in range, Armor Piercing (1) and Move (+1). It is not all roses though…you drop from Barrage (5) to Barrage (3).

These elementals need Homing Winds from a Maharajah to do big work, but they will help you soften up armored targets. Once you have them in position, don’t forget to use the Take Aim action to boost their Volley to 4! They are a little pricey for what they do, but having a unit of these in your list can make an opponent think twice about where to place their anvil units. And a 27in threat radius is nothing to scoff at when it comes to hitting support regiments behind the front line.

Steelheart Djinn:

Cost: 190pt
Class: Medium
Type: Melee
Use: Line Breaker, Court of Air Synergy

If the halberds weren’t a dead give away, these ladies are the air equivalent to Efreet Sword Dancers from a special rules stand point. Interestingly, for 20 more points than their fiery cousins you gain Move (+1) and Cleave (2), but drop two attacks per stand and only have Impact (2). Seems like a fair trade.

These are your line breakers. Tied in-faction for the highest amount of Cleave that you can get, this isn’t a bad place to park a Raj and buff the regiment into the stratosphere. With all of the synergy of that pairing, they stand a great chance of obliterating whatever is in front of them. Taking multiples of this unit can get pricey pretty quick though, so carefully think about how many you can properly support with your buffs.

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Monsters

Mahut:

Cost: 240pt
Class: Medium
Type: Ranged/Melee
Use: Line Breaker, Mount (Maharajah)

Well, we have left Aladdin and went straight Rhûn from Middle Earth.

Lets start with the basics. Clash and Volley of 2 might not seem so great for a 240 point monster, but what it lacks in quality of stats is made up for in volume of attacks. It also picked up Elemental in the 4/9/2024 update, so being able to chain activate for a free action Take Aim or Inspire helps a lot. The Mahut also has a built in free volley action once per turn with a 20in Barrage (10) attack. Even better, it can also do so while engaged.

While that is impressive, the Mahut really shines on the charge. First up, Linebreaker nullifies Bastion and Shield. Next we have Brutal Impact (2) and Impact (5). Then you get 10 attacks with Cleave (1). After that, you can take your free 10 shots. And lastly, at the end of your activation, you get five free hits from Trample (5). If that wasn’t enough, you can net yourself +1 Clash if you charge the target of your Incite Rage Ritual.

On the defensive side of things, you get Defense 3 with Hardened (1) and Oblivious. Reducing Defense debuffs and wounds taken? Neat. That is a some pretty solid defensive tech for an army of glass cannons.

Rakshasa Bakasura:

Cost: 260pt
Class: Heavy
Type: Melee
Use: Line Breaker, Court of Fire Synergy, Duelist

So remember when I said Sorcerer Kings were light on duelist character options? Well, I didn’t lie, but I also didn’t mention the Bakasura. These Elemental (i.e. free action recipients)are technically not a character, but can perform duel actions just like one! And they come with a bevy of fit for purpose rules.

On the offensive side of the house, we have an average Clash of 3 with 15 attacks and Cleave (1). The Bakasura also has Impact (5), Aura of Death (5) and Terrifying (1) for a little bit of extra damage potential. However, things get spicy when you look at Arrogance and Last Word.

Arrogance is where we get our dueling ability. There are a lot of parts to this rule, so lets break it down.

First up, it grants +3 to your charge distance when charging a regiment with a character stand attached to it. This gives you a guaranteed 11in charge thanks to the high Move stat of 7.

Next, it gives you the ability to use the Duel action. Now, this should usually only be used after you are engaged (i.e. not charging), and here is why. Should your duel target refuse to fight you, the Bakasura gains Flurry…that’s right; your opponent has to decide to either eat an average of 7.5 Cleave (1) hits on a character, or have their regiment face 15 Cleave (1) attacks with full rerolls and suffer all of the negatives associated with dishonorably refusing a duel. Even better, if you can activate your Bakasura after the Incite Rage ritual, you can use your free action to charge, duel, and clash the Incite Rage target with +1 Clash thanks to Shock.

If all of that wasn’t juicy enough, when your Bakasura kills an enemy warlord, Arrogance scores you 1 victory point.

And we still aren’t done! Last Word…even in death your Elemental still serves. When a Bakasura dies, one of your wizards (important to note that this is any wizard) channels all of the dissipating magic into 8 automatic hits against an enemy regiment within 8in of them.

On the defensive side of the house, you are heavily relying on your Defense of 3 and splash healing from Born of Flame when the Bakasura receives a Court of Fire buff. Unfortunately, all of the Court of Fire buffs do nothing for the Bakasura since they all grant Aura of Death (2) which feels like a wasted spell here. Your best bet for keeping it alive is to keep it close to a Raj with the Eye of the Blazing Tempest upgrade. That shifts your healing to a free action that can affect multiple regiments.

Rakshasa Ravanar:

Cost: 240pt
Class: Heavy
Type: Melee
Use: Line Breaker, Court of Fire Synergy, Monster Hunter

Rajah has been hitting the gym. Where the Bakasura smashes characters, the Ravanar smashes monsters and brutes.

Hubris gives +3 to your charge distance against monster regiments, granting you a guaranteed 11in charge thanks to a high Move stat of 7. Doesn’t work for brutes, but hey, you can’t have everything.

Once you are in combat with your preferred targets though…oh boy. We still have the Aura of Death (5), Impact (5), and Terrifying (1) package from the Bakasura. Now we add 11 attacks with Cleave (2) and Fiend Hunter (full rerolls) with a Clash stat of 3. That hurts. We still have that Elemental rule, so feel free to activate your Ravanar after the Incite Rage Ritual to charge, inspire, and then clash with Clash 5 against the Incite Rage target. That really hurts. At Clash 5, you don’t even really need the full rerolls from Fiend Hunter, so you can pretty much charge anything in this scenario.

Last Word makes an appearance here again. Cruelty to animal spirits is wrong, and one of your wizards can dish out some karmic justice in the form of 8 automatic hits against an enemy regiment within 8in of them when the Ravanar dies.

Defensively, the Ravanar is in the same boat as the Bakasura. Born of Flame healing won’t be reliable, so keep ’em close to a Raj with Eye of the Blazing Tempest to keep your Ravanar healthy.

Trinavarta:

Cost: 220pt
Class: Medium
Type: Ranged
Use: Line Breaker, Court of Air Synergy, Objective Clearance

This is the Court of Air version of “Breach and Clear”. The Trinavarta does one thing well, and that is shoot everything in sight.

To start things off, you have Deadshots, so you are always under the effects of Aimed Shots; no need to ever use the Take Aim action. So we are looking at a Move of 7 with a Barrage (12) (16in) volley and a Volley stat of 4 for a massive 30in threat range when you double march. Next up, you can Volley as a free action even when engaged (so long as you shoot the regiment you are engaged with).

Things get spicy when you get in range of an objective zone. That’s when Whirling Storm kicks in. You know how regiments tend to bunch up around objectives zones so they can try to win the game? Well, when the Trinavarta enters the mix, you can shoot them all with one action. To be specific, you can take a full volley action against every single enemy regiment in range of of the same objective zone as the Trinavarta.

Have a Court of Air Maharajah around? Why not toss out Homing Winds for full rerolls? Say hello to my windy friend!

Defensively, the Trinavarta has an average Defense of 3 and Loose Formation to keep you protected from volleys and spells. No melee tech here though, so you are looking at Born of Air and an Eye of the Blazing Tempest Raj to keep your Trinavarta in the fight. You do have a decent chance of shooting your way out of an unwanted combat though.

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Final Thoughts

The Sorcerer Kings will be a challenging army to learn due to the sheer amount of synergy available to them. Keeping track of all of the moving parts will be hard at first, but very rewarding to players that spend the time to get comfortable with the faction.

The best place to start your journey toward enlightenment is in the list building stage. The Sorcerer Kings regiments do many things well, but not at the same time, and usually not on their own. This means that you need to form discreet little packages that do a “thing”…so a Ritual package, an anvil package, an objective package and so forth. The challenge here is that because of the cost of our units, some characters/regiments will have to fill multiple roles.

You also won’t be able to bring the right tool for every job in a 2000 point game, so planning out your action economy before you ever hit the table is absolutely critical. You need to plan, in advance, where units need to be and when, what support they need to do their jobs, and when you need Rituals to help you out. Free actions from Elemental and Elemental Rites help reduce this burden, but make sure that you factor in that their availability will fade as you start to lose regiments.

Once your army is on the table, the Sorcerer Kings are the quintessential glass cannon. There isn’t a lot of room for redundancy, so when things fall apart on you they will do so very quickly.

Target priority and playing the scenario are going to be your path to victory. While not as flashy as the synergistic damage dealers in the faction, you have access to some solid early game plays to rack up victory points and deny objectives to your opponents. Once you can get your opponent on the back foot from the scenario perspective, focusing down the regiments in their list that can hurt you the most will set you on the path to victory.

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Update Log

1. The curse of a living ruleset!
   Updated 4/11/2024 to account for the 4/9/2024 list changes