If you find yourself looking back at Warhammer Fantasy Battles wishing you could get back to playing wargames on those wonderful square bases, or reliving the moments where you set up those perfect flank charges on the tabletop, Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings may be exactly what you are looking for in a wargame. Conquest brings back all of the wonderful things wargamers loved about the classic rank and flank game and packs it all into a much more streamlined package. Just having interest in a game isn’t enough as the veteran wargamers know. It can sometimes be confusing when getting into a new game, but some of the tips below will have you ranked up and ready to play Conquest in no time.
First, I would suggest doing a read through of the Conquest rules which can be found over on the Para Bellum Games website completely for free. The entire rule set, to include army lists and tournament scenarios, is available on the Conquest website. This was what really got me hooked on Conquest after seeing some of the models randomly appear on the internet. The rules for the game seem very easy to learn, but have some interesting depth that will be hard to master. The reinforcement mechanic of the game is simple enough at first, but when you stumble into the special rules that modify how certain units can come on to the table you understand that you really only scratch the surface of this game’s depth in the core rules.
Conquest can be played at both the casual and competitive levels. Casual players will enjoy the ease of learning the games ruleset, while the players who are more interested in tournament level play have a plethora of unit combinations that can be made through the use of magic items, unit upgrades, in-game character skill trees, and a ton more customizable options to get the most out of their army lists.
The next step in taking the plunge into Conquest is finding models to play the game. Army building is unique in Conquest as certain units can only be taken with certain characters. This was a little confusing for me at first coming from a Warhammer background, but Para Bellum Games came to my rescue again. Just like with their ruleset, Para Bellum Games provides a free army builder on their website for Conquest. Currently this is just web-based, and there is no option to save lists, but Para Bellum has said they will be adding additional features soon to include an app of the army builder. All of these things will be coming for free so keep an eye out! I found the current army builder intuitive and easy to use, so I don’t mind waiting a bit for more features.
If you and a friend have any interest in playing the Hundred Kingdoms or Spires factions in the game than the 2-Player Starter box is as far as you need to look. This starter box comes with two forces that give a solid play experience when placed on the table, and each force within the starter box is extremely easy to grow into a full 2000pts army. Don’t worry if neither of these factions interest you though. Conquest also has single player starter sets for every faction currently released, and these faction starter sets are a great way to kick off an army by getting more units for less money than if you would purchase them separately.
If, after taking a look at the rules and models of Conquest, you are as excited to get started with this game as I was FLG offers Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings models in their webstore. It can take some time to purchase, build, and paint an entire 2000pts army for a miniature wargame like Conquest, but when it is complete you will feel a real sense of accomplishment. Those fully painted armies make the game just that much more fun! Next week I will start to cover a basic overview of the factions of Conquest starting with the Hundred Kingdoms.