Last week we covered the Army Rules and Characters that make the Hundred Kingdoms faction in Conquest so flexible. This article will take a more in-depth look at the units that a Hundred Kingdoms player can put on the tabletop. When I was first putting together this article it was going to be a one stop shop review of all of the regiments available to a 100 Kingdoms player, but I quickly realized there sure are a lot of units in this army! For Part 1 I decided to focus on the units that come in some of the starter sets. The tips below will help newer 100 Kingdoms players picking up the starter sets get the most out of their regiments right away.
Men-At-Arms: Coming right out of the Starter Box the Men-At-Arms are an extremely defensive unit with their Defense of 2 and Shields. They really shine when a Season Veteran is added to the unit to give them the Bastion Draw Event. Big blocks of Defense 4 Resolve 3 (assuming you take more than three stands in the unit which you absolutely want to) Men-At-Arms are going to be extremely hard for your opponent to deal with.
By including a Chapter Mage in this regiment you gain the ability to heal models back to this already insanely defensive unit, but be careful of enemy characters challenging your Chapter Mage to a duel as this unit will want to be in the thick of things holding Objectives to make the best use out of their defensibility.
The down side to this unit is their lack of offensive output. This unit has zero inbuilt offensive buffs, but there are some ways to increase the Men-At-Arms offensive output. By making the unit Veterans their Inspired attacks come in at a respectable Clash 4, and it also increases their Resolve to 3 making them just that much harder to remove from the game.
Militia: At first glance the Militia seem like a throw away chaff unit. Best used to charge block, or tie up more powerful enemy units until your Household Knights can position themselves for a charge at the expense of the poor Militia. While there is certainly nothing wrong with running a minimum unit of Militia at 90pts for exactly this purpose (although the next unit on our list is probably a better fit for this role) there are some ways to make the humble militiamen a terrifying unit on the table.
A Thesit Priest can take Militia as a Mainstay option, and the buffs the priest can provide really make Militia shine. Through the use of the Theist Priest Supremacy ability, and including a Neophyte in your Militia units for just 10pts the Theist Priests spells can affect every unit of Militia on the table! This means a 100K player can have a turn where all the Militia units in their army have Bless which allows them to re-roll ALL attack or defense rolls once per Round. Or this rule can be used to give all Militia units +1 Defense or Evasion. An entire army of Defense 4 Militia seems ok to me.
Militia Bowman: Coming in at just 75pts this unit is the cheapest option in the 100K army. If you are looking for a cheap chaff unit look no further. While there are ways to buff these poor peasants as described above, it is generally not worth the effort in an army with other more effective shooting units.
By placing a cheap unit of Militia Bowman out in front of your Household Knights you can force your opponent to make suboptimal choices by charging your poor Militia Bowman while your Household Knights wait to come charging in themselves.
Mercenary Crossbowmen: Speaking of better shooting units, the Crossbowmen come in with a respectable Volley of 2 and Armor Piercing 1 on their profile. Having a couple minimum units of these Mercenaries sitting behind your main lines can give your opponent fits while they are shot full of bolts. The Crossbowmen are also a restricted option for the Chapter Mage who, when taking the Air School of magic, can take the spell Seeking Winds. This spell makes it so your Crossbowmen will never count as Obscured due to the range to their target. A 100K army can start to put out some impressive ranged firepower with this combo.
Household Knights: The Mounted Noble Lord’s Supremacy ability is what makes this unit work. By providing the Glorious Charge special rule to all Household Knight regiments in your army Impact Attacks by these units become terrifying for you enemy to deal with. Getting a charge off into a non-chaff unit with Household Knights is something your opponent will need to avoid at all costs with Brutal Impact 2, Terrifying, and Support 2 Impact Attacks. Because getting the charge off with Household Knights is so important I would always recommend both the Standard Bearer and Tourney Champion upgrades. Those 45pts may seem steep, but just wait until you needed the re-roll or +2 to charge.
Hopefully some of these tips will help the 100 Kingdoms players out there when putting their units on the table. The 100 Kingdoms is an extremely flexible army with many different competitive army builds available to it’s players, so it is just up to you if you want to focus on massed ranged shooting, hordes of infantry with supporting attacks, or a huge cavalry charge! Next week we will dive into some of the other units 100 Kingdoms players have access to when expanding their army outside of the starter forces. Some of these units have extremely interesting rules and combos that can be set up during army building, and I am excited to start running some of them on the tabletop myself very soon!