Arguing Kings: Trying Conquest TLAoK

By Troy Hill

I have to blame Jeremy Duvall for this one.

Jeremy is one of the main co-hosts on the Counter Charge Podcast for all things Kings of War (KOW). For the last several months, he’s been sharing how he hopes to build a KOW scene by playing what the locals are playing, and then interesting them in his game of choice (KOW). Jeremy’s local group is playing Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings (hereafter: Conquest).

So far, it sounds like Jeremy is playing  a lot MORE Conquest than the locals are playing KOW.

Since my attempts at getting a local KOW scene to take hold have been fruitless, I decided to heed Jeremy’s advice. But the locals here are playing ye olde world of hammery-wars, which doesn’t interest me. Been there, done that. I’d rather trade my money for models and games from smaller companies.

But it wasn’t just Jeremy who led me to investigate Conquest. I’d noticed it a couple of years ago at the Michigan GT. To be honest, their concept sounded intriguing, but the models I saw for the Spires faction didn’t grab me. And with the Kings of War tourney right in front of the Conquest distributor’s booth, I was slightly distracted by the fists-full of dice being thrown at the KOW tables.

So, as I kept hearing about it, I remembered the several other local gamers who picked up a starter set or two at Michigan GT that year. I’d not seen it played, nor heard of anyone painting the figures locally.

I started to investigate, and discovered a store about 1.5 hours away with one of the Para Bellum Games Vanguards in residence. An evening drive out to play, and I’m now more than intrigued by the game. Fortunately, there are no books to purchase. Rules and army factions are available to download – free!– online at the Para Bellum Games website.

What is Conquest?

In short, it’s one of several Rank and Flank (R&F) Fantasy Warfare games designed by Alessio Cavatore. In Fantasy R&F games, Alessio is best known for his work on the Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th edition, taking over as Rick Priestly moved on to other projects. Alessio also wrote the Kings of War first edition rules set, and the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

Now in its Second edition, Conquest’s design has been taken over by Para Bellum’s in-house design team.

But where KOW is a Beer and Pretzels, chess-style simulation of U-go-I-go R&F goodness, Conquest appears to have more depth to the army factions, and several fairly unique game mechanisms that give Conquest a very different feel than a typical R&F game.

First: Conquest is a R&F game with alternating activations. With a few exceptions, Player A activates a unit, then Player B activates one of their units. And the trade off continues through the turn.

Command and Control?

A lot of games have a variant of this. What makes Conquest interesting, is the command stack each player builds at the beginning of the turn. Any unit, character, or monster on the table, or about to enter the table, has a unit card placed in the command stack.

Players each secretly build their activation order into the their command stack. Then, the command stack is placed faced down. The top card will activate first for each player. They will then work their way down the stack in the order each built before the activations began.

Supremacy!

Part of researching the game was viewing a lot of How-to-Play Battle Reports, and some of the best are with Tycho and Nick over on the Play On Tabletop channel. That channel is dedicated to making games fun. Tycho and his crew do a great job, especially when they bellow “SUPREMACY! as they roll off to see who goes first.

One of the interesting things about the game is that low rolls are almost always what you want. One exception is rolling for charge distance. There, you add the number on the die to the distance your unit moves during a charge action. Otherwise, low is good. I’m sure the dice gods will eventually wake up, but I should get a few turns in each game where I catch them napping and my usual low rolls help me out.

Wounds and Resolve

One friend described Conquest as a “killy game.” I can see that.

Whereas Alessio’s other creation, KOW, is based on using an escalating wound count against nerve check, but never removing individual models, nor lessoning the combat power of a unit until the nerve check is failed – in Conquest, each wound adds a wound counter to a stand of (usually) four infantry figures or one cavalry figure. A unit of infantry or cav may have three or more stands. So when the wound count for a stand is reached, the stand is removed, as are any combat abilities (attacks or support) it provided.

 

 

However, rather than making a straight morale test to see if the unit flees, Alessio designed this game to see if individual models flee. Each wound inflicted and not saved in combat or magical effects, causes a Resolve check. If I inflict four wounds on Dennis’s unit, he makes four Resolve checks. Each check that fails, adds another wound to the unit. I mentally see how the rule’s effects mimik a soldier panicking and fleeing, or an able-bodied soldier assisting the wounded back to the rear. Either way, the unit’s strength is degraded.

Infantry, Cavalry, and Brutes, oh my!

Your units will be of several types: Infantry, Cavalry, Brutes, Monster, and Characters. The stands these sit on are usually 65mm square (monsters are on larger stands). Each stand can hold four infantry, one cavalry, or one brute. Three stands typically are required to form a unit, and can usually be larger than just three stands.

Characters must join a regiment (unit) of a similar type. A knightly character on his or her trusty steed may only join a Cavalry regiment. Infantry to infantry. etc. However, some characters may also ride monsters. My favorite faction has this ability with dinosaurs! Yep. Orcs on Dinos.

In addition to type, regiments also have a Class. Think of this like a weight class. Thinly armoured troops or cavalry are probably Light, where armoured knights on foot or mounted would be either Medium or Heavy class.

This class is tied into when each unit is able to enter the battlefield.

Reserves turn one?

Yep. The battle begins with no units deployed on the table. Instead, forces arrive in mostly their class order. Turn one, only Light classed units can arrive. Players get to bring one unit on per turn, but can roll to see if any other regiments arrive. In the second turn, Medium classed regiments may arrive (with one free unit per player). Third turn, Heavy regiments.

The die roll to bring a unit on 4 or less for Light units (remember, low is good in this game). In the next turn’s reserve phase, Medium units can arrive on a 2 or less, and any remaining Light units on a 4 or less. Round three, Heavy regiments enter on a 2 or less, everyone else on a 4 or less. And finally, round four, everyone left comes on with a 4 or less. Round five, auto arrival.

Regiments trundle on from the back edge of the player’s side of the table. There is flanking rules. But the zone they can arrive in is based on how far forward your units have progressed. No charging is allowed on the first turn a regiment enters the battlefield.

Actions

Each unit that activates gets two actions. If they’re not in combat, they can March, Charge, Rally, Aim, or fire a Volley. March is the only action that can be taken twice in one unit’s turn.

Once units are in combat, they can Clash. This is the hand to hand (or claw to hand) part of the battle. Again, low rolls are best. Each hit in either Volley or Clash actions, forces the defender to make a save check per hit. This can be done with either the unit’s Defense value, or Evasion value.

Defense is based on armor and shield. Buffs can help the attacker get around or through those forcing a lower Defense roll. Evasion is more like a saving throw in RPGs. But it too can be modified, though doing so happens less often.

Shooting wounds that are caused by failed saves in a volley do not generate Resolve checks. But those from combat or magical effects do.

Missions

A large portion of the official missions in the game are objective based, creating a lot of variety on how the game is played. Some of the missions include both objective holding, as well as “kill points,” making each command card worth a point or two. Many though, generate points for taking, holding, or destroying objectives.

Most games play up to round ten. Since I come from mainly playing Bolt Action and KOW, that sounds like a lot of rounds. Games in those systems only go to round six, with an optional round seven.

But in Conquest, the first three to four rounds are usually over quickly. Early arrivals are mostly light units, vying for strategic position, and possibly firing a volley at the opponent’s regiments. A round with only one or two units per side goes very quickly.

Factions

As of now, there are eight factions in the game. I’ll give a very brief overview of each:

Spires: Coming from an alien race, these Biomancers create living forms of drones, clones, and other monstrosities to fight for them. Orinaly one of the first factions in the game, their models were ones that didn’t impress me. But, Para Bellum put a lot of effort into refreshing their old ranges. This faction has some very interesting models that fit with their lore.

Dweghome: The “dwarven” faction in this game. A race created by long dead dragons. The Dweghom rebelled against their masters, and kicked dragon butts. Now, a few have ensnared some of the remaining lizards, mounted magical cannons on them, and ride to battle. Metallurgy,  fire, and the usual stalwart toughness of dwarves fuels this faction.

Nords: Vikings! With frost-friggin’ giants! You’ll find a strong Norse flavor in this faction. It’s across the table and in your face with some very tough fighters.

The Hundred Kingdoms: A splinter of the old human “dominion” of cities. These are mostly the knightly orders and their foot soldiers. Priests of two differing factions bring magic into the force, but no monsters or brutes lurk in their ranks. Instead, count on charges from your heavy cavalry, and spells from your priests to smite thine enemy!

The Old Dominion: What’s left of the old human kingdoms after they broke their deity. The remaining factions embraced the magic of undeath, and raised legions from fallen warriors. This faction has some of the coolest models in the game. And what doesn’t wipe one of the units out, just makes the entire force stronger. Opponents need to kill the force quickly and completely, or the undead just grows in power.

The City States: Think of Ancient Greece, burgeoning with clockwork soldiers and inventions. Yet another of the human factions that splintered when the Dominion fell. Strategy here is about manipulation your command stack.

The Sorcerer Kings: A force with a very strong Arabian Knights theme. Complete with Rakshasa demons, Efreets, Djinns, and a mess of infantry, including sorcerers. This faction relies on building magical effects slowly, to be unleashed in a flash of woe to their enemies.

The W’adrhun: My favorite faction. And the one I’m building. When the Spires realized they needed to have a standing army, they created the W’adrhun. The race is closely akin to Orcs in traditional fantasy. They escaped their overlords, after being left as rearguard to allow the Spires to escape an immanent threat. The green-skinned, seven-foot-tall warriors are bred for one purpose only: War. Capturing and training dinosaurs allows these desert savages to bring even more might to their battles. The tribes utilize a chanting magic to enhance their abilities. (This is about to be revamped with the release of the annual updates to the rules on Oct 14).

Why should you play Conquest?

• Do you enjoying fantasy battles?
• Do you like games with simple rules, yet tactical depth?
• A unique world setting and lore, that doesn’t follow normal fantasy tropes, yet has strong fantasy flavor
• A friendly and fun community has grown around the game (much like in KOW), and they have a growing tournament scene that lacks the meta-math-hammer competitive WAACs of another popular system.
• Para Bellum updates the rules, and the factions every quarter (as of this writing.) A new rules refresh dropped on October 14, 2024, along with a total revamp of the Chanting system unique to the W’adrhun faction. The Nords faction also received a heavy refresh. All other factions were tweaked to balance the forces.

Check out the Para Bellum site, where they have links to communities on Facebook, and a dedicated server on Discord.