Way back in my younger years a friend got me into miniature wargaming by introducing me to Warhammer Fantasy. One look at the painted models on the battlefield and I was hooked. It didn’t matter that I had absolutely no idea how the game worked, or that I attempted to put Runes on my individual Dwarf Warriors to make them ALL Toughness 10 (Fantasy wasn’t that broken I suppose). Eventually I learned the game enough to actually play real games, and it was a blast playing a rank and flank miniature wargame for many years. Unfortunately, Games Workshop exploded the Old World to create Age of Sigmar. I was not a huge fan of the initial release of Age of Sigmar, and while the game has really grown into its own over the years, I still miss the classic feeling of playing a wargame with square bases. I attempted to play some other square based miniature games, but none ever seemed to capture my attention. Until I stumbled on to Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings by Para Bellum Wargames.
Conquest is a rank and flank game like the wargames of old, but it has absolutely streamlined its ruleset which was a huge reason the game was so attractive to me. The basic mechanics of the game can be learned by reading through the free rules found on the game developers website along with watching a battle report or two. During my first read through of the rulebook I feared the game may be a little too simple to keep my attention for long, but then I watched a battle report. The mechanic of rolling for units to come onto the battlefield based on their classification of Light, Medium, or Heavy had me hooked from the start. The strategy of the game begins immediately with these deployment rolls determining if you should rush your fast moving unit into an opponent who maybe didn’t get enough units to come onto the board early in the game, but all the while knowing that your opponent’s units are just waiting in the wings to appear right behind their rear-most unit on the table!
Then, as all wargamers must, I went to see if there was an army building tool for this game I had yet to play so I could see how building army lists worked. I was very happy to see that Para Bellum had their own army builder (no app just web-based but no one is perfect). While messing around with the army builder I discovered even more layers to the game in the form of the upgrades that can be purchased for characters, and units, within the game. All the factions have things that most wargamers will recognize are relics, but there are also some more unique ways to put some flavor into an army to make it feel unique. For example, the Nords have something called aspects, each named after a different animal, that characters can pay points for to get some profile upgrade, or even new abilities added to be used during a game. Each faction has something similar to this, as well as their own faction specific rules that make all of the armies feel unique and flavorful.
After I watched a battle report I began to read up on the lore of Conquest, and was pleasantly surprised to find it was as in-depth as many games that have been around for much longer. Each faction has an entire origin story that builds up to their current situation on Ea, the world the game takes place in. The lore of the Nords immediate became one of my favorites with the simple Viking story of Valhalla taking on an ancient aliens theory twist. As a fan of the History Channel show Ancient Aliens I was delighted with the Nord background. The Spires also captured my attention, but in a much darker way. Creating cloned soldiers who only live for a short period of time to fight the ruling classes battles? That’s dark Para Bellum, but I like it.
The models for the game are also extremely detailed and unique. Due to the unique lore the game is based on all of the classic fantasy factions are show in a new way with interesting twists. The Spire troops look like mummies, but they aren’t. That’s medical gauze because why bother making clones for battle with a working immune system? If you aren’t into the mummy look there are still some more classic aesthetics in the Nords and the Hundred Kingdoms armies.
If any of the above interests you then you will be excited to know that I plan on producing a weekly article base on Conquest. These articles will take the form of unit/army overviews, battle reports, and tactics. Us wargamers have a tendency to jump right into new games that catch our eyes, and I am diving in head first.
If you are very interested in getting into this growing game, or you need to grow an existing army, FLG stocks many of the Conquest kits in their webstore!