Armoured Clash Tournament Report: Siege of Katzelsdorf 2026

 

Last year during the Warsaw Dystopian Wars Tournament we got to talking about an Armoured Clash tournament again, and I decided I wanted to make it happen. Sadly Kaptur and the Polish contingent couldn’t attend, but we still managed to get a total of 8 people of 3 nationalities attending. A huge thank you to everyone, especially those who made the long trip down! It was a great weekend, and I think I can speak for everyone playing that we had a great time!

Trophies and Cake, what more does one need?

Games were played on 4ft by 4ft at 1500 points.

Games

List

I decided to go with Sultanate because I have no self restraint, clearly. It was kind of last minute so I just went with double full strength Janissaries (1 Command and 1 regular) and double full strength Mergens because it’s just so many anti-light dice and crazy mobility. It also keeps pressure off your portal network. The rest of the list was fairly standard, with a Luminant Command for Prescience through Order and flexible portal strikes, Senehems for AA and picking off lights out of LoS, Sabihas/Hayalets as artillery, and Immortals/Spica/Sipahi for objective play.

Overall it mostly worked out that way. I wouldn’t have minded some Khepri along as well, but I’m not sure what I would have cut for them. Everything pulled its weight.

Round 1: Pitched Battle

 

 

 

The game started pretty hard for Imperium. The Rocket Batteries had pushed too far forward, and the Mergens and Janissary Command capitalized on that. Their overwatch fire caused minor damage to them, while the return fire wiped the unit. The main thrust from both sides went towards the inland objective, the Imperium sending their knights and shotgun Austrians forward to brawl with the Janissaries. The central objective got a pile of Immortals, and the Lighthouse was lightly held by my snipers late in the turn. 

Sturmwagen blocking my charge!

Turn 2 saw the knights hard pressed by volley after volley from the Janissaries and Mergens. The Imperium Commander screened them with their herd of sturmwagens, which ate the Luminant’s charge. The Sturmriese Walkers advanced towards the Lighthouse, starting to clear out the Spica holding it, while the Panzers blaze away in the center, knocking down two rotorcraft and shelling the infantry. But the Sultanate inexorably ground down the Imperium infantry, leading to a general retreat on Turn 3.

Other tables

Round 2: Find the Lady

I’ve basically got my gameplan locked in for this mission, and it’s try to force the objective as far away from the main force of my opponent as possible. First activation you can veto whichever location you like the least, and your opponent can do the same. Then my plan was to use the superior sultanate mobility to redeploy hard towards wherever the objective ends up.

 

That’s not quite what happened. My opponent started their first activation moving his steppe cavalry onto my left flank objective and wipe my spica waiting to jump on it, but crucially not removing the objective marker. I start my game plan, removing the right flank objective where the main punch of my opponent is waiting. And then, I decided that the left flank was held lightly enough that I could push the cavalry off, so I also removed the central objective, leaving our VIP under Commonwealth hoofs. While some fire is exchanged, the primary focus from both sides went to the left flank. I threw a Mergen and Janissary unit at it to wipe the cavalry, while Commonwealth brutes started stomping towards the VIP. But a combination of the other Janissaries followed by Luminants with the steel chair wipe the Brutes, leading to an early end of the game as the remaining commonwealth units able to hold the objective are left hopelessly out of place.

Other Tables 

The other tables also had some interesting strategies for this mission. In the Crown vs Union and Alliance vs Commonwealth games, the VIP wasn’t found at all, leading to a tie and an almost tie. Too busy shooting each other to care about any pesky intel, I assume. The last table saw Imperium go for an early grab of the VIP and bring them back to their deployment zone, but the Alliance chased them down with their Ghent, eventually vomiting out Ordenanza to grab the VIP. Might have been faster to walk, but hey, it worked!

 

Round 3: Flanking Maneuvers

I was finally up against this terror of a Union list. The Lakota and Iron Horses defended his home objective, mechs and a command trooper platoon stacked up to brawl in the middle, and my objective stood under aggressive threat from full strength (!) on lookout (!!!) Rolling Thunders and some Pacifiers in Lamplighters. He also had all rocket fireteams, because why not, I don’t need aircraft anyway.

I put a unit of Mergen on each flank, Janissaries going for his home objective while the immortals would hold mine. Between them, my Command Janissaries threatened the center alongside my Sipahi bikes, with the Hayalet and Luminants hopefully hiding far enough back to not get immediately pasted by dakka dakka dakka tank shells. My Sabihas were deployed to remove some of the armour threatening my home objective.

Deployment

Deciding to take the bull by the horns, I threw my Mergens straight at the Rolling Thunders. Spooked, they killed half of them, but since Immortals are only 4 per reinforcement they didn’t have to bail out and took my home objective. His Lamplighters also rumble forward, but took the long way around the wrecked trawler to deploy some AA, leaving them well back off the objective. This proves to be something of a theme, rocket fireteams setting up to go after my aircraft and being swatted by incidental anti-light, the first by my Senehems and the second by my Spica. Sadly the last team gets the shot, downing a Sabiha but not before they take out a Lamplighter. Finally, my Luminants drop a new portal to charge the Rolling Thunders, hoping to push them into terrain to remove the unit, but wiff on the attack. For shame!

On the other flank, the bikes make a long charge into my Janissaries, knocking them down a level. This leaves them very exposed, however, the remaining Janissaries and Mergens wiping the unit. The mechs advance towards the center, but can’t yet contribute due to their low speed. At the end of the turn we each hold our primary objective, with more carnage to come.

The second turn dawns, and the Luminants attempt to regain their honor. This time they put their backs into it and kill a tank, leading to another lost on withdraw. As an aside, the new Withdraw rules are not exactly clearer than the old ones, but we think the intent is to be less lethal. A designer’s commentary would be great. 

Violence ensued!

With that gripe out of the way, that flank descends into a bloody melee. Pacifiers pour fire at the Immortals but only kill 3 due to Defence 4, who are quickly replenished through the portal. In return the Janissaries sally through a portal from the other flank to wipe them out with volleys of rifle fire. In the center, the mechs continue to advance, blocking me from the central objective and firing into my Mergens alongside the Lakota, who were busy being a nuisance. My remaining Sabiha opens up on the Newhaven holding the opponent’s home objective, taking it down to half health.

In the third turn my plan comes together. The Immortals, freshly replenished, charge halfway across the field through a portal into the damaged Newhaven, finishing it and claiming their home objective. My remaining forces secure my objective as well, leaving me with both primaries. Seeing little options for shifting the bricks of infantry I had sitting around, the Union quit the field.

No one expects the Persian Inquisition!

The mobility from portals really came in handy this game, getting my infantry exactly where it needed to be after dismounting. Mergens continued to be annoying, though they were somewhat low on targets since my opponent’s list was somewhat heavy on heavies. I was definitely sweating with the mechs keeping me away from their home objective and the center, but once I secured my objective I could immediately pivot to offense. A very interesting game overall. 

Other Tables 

 

Ghent on Ghent Violence!

Sturmwagen in their natural habitat

  

Landship ho!

List Retrospective

Things mostly worked out as expected. Most valuable players were definitely the Janissaries and Mergens. So flexible, and so much anti-light. I also learned I need to play my Command Janissaries more defensively. The Immortals, Spica, Sipahi, Senehem, and Sabihas each played their part well. The Luminants mostly just did damage and made portals, their resilience rarely coming into play. The Hayalets probably did the least, throwing some damage on enemy armour, but still contributed.

I’m still unsure whether Sultanate is overpowered or not, but I’m leaning towards yes. There’s just so much flexibility and power, even discounting the portals. I think they might struggle into lists focused on spamming heavy units (preferably with lower damage limits due to penetrating), but there’s a very deep toolbox of tricks to deal with that. Still, Union gave me a run for my money, so it’s not that there’s a huge gap there.

Results and Lists

1^st: Sultanate

2^nd: Crown

3^rd: Alliance

4^th: Union

5^th: Commonwealth

6^th: Imperium

7^th: Alliance

8^th: Commonwealth

Conclusion

Again, thanks to everyone attending, and to the venue, Zinnfigurenwelt Katzelsdorf. It was one hell of a weekend, and I hope we can repeat it next year (or maybe this year? We’ll see). I think we’ll go for 2k on 6ft by 4ft next time; while the games worked out fine it was a little cramped. Yipee, more terrain to make.

If you are potentially interested in attending another tournament in the Vienna area please let me know so I can contact you when I have more concrete info.

And thanks to the devs for making a great game. Armoured Clash continues to impress, both as a ruleset and with the miniatures!