A few months ago, I started playing an amazing wargame from Para Bellum Games known as Conquest The Last Argument of Kings. I was looking for a solid rank and flank miniatures game since I was missing the days of the Old World, and what I found proved to not be just a replacement for Warhammer Fantasy. It turned out to be one of the best miniature wargames I have gotten involved with in over 20 years (first time I have written the years down and it hurts) of wargaming.
If this article convinces you to take the plunge into playing this awesome miniature wargame, FLG has Conquest models over on their webstore! If this article doesn’t convince you, well I guess I did my best, and FLG still has models for other, worse, games at a great discount.
The Lore/Models: I don’t know how many hours it took for the creators of Conquest to create an entire living world with a progressing storyline, history (dating back to the genesis story of the entire planet!), socio-economic relations between the inhabitants of the world, and even complete social structures for those inhabitants. If I had to make an educated guess I’d say: a long time. Para Bellum’s website is packed full with lore regarding the units you put on the tabletop, short stories, and even their Living World where players can make real time decisions for characters living in the world of Ea that directly affect the game. The next big thing to be voted on in the living world is Project 8, where players have the choice to vote for the next faction coming to the tabletop game!
I am extremely excited to see this game grow over time, and see where Para Bellum takes their lore and rules writing in the future. Currently a seventh faction for the game is coming in January in the City States. They have been described as ancient Greeks with some light steampunk influence. That description is pretty par for the course for armies in Conquest. The Old Dominion can best be described as undead Romans, there are orcs riding dinosaurs, genetically engineered Vikings, and dwarves who actually aren’t dwarves that killed all the actual dwarves (read the lore its wild).
The models that represent these factions are all extremely well designed and detailed. When you are playing the Old Dominion (undead Romans) it looks like you are playing an army of zombified Roman legions. Complete with the Bone Golem constructs you can see above.
The Game: Not all wargamers get deep into the lore of the game they play, and I definitely put myself in the more competitive wargamer category than the naming of all my characters category. After one read through of the Conquest rules (which are free over on Para Bellum’s website along with all the army rules and an awesome army builder!) I thought the game was actually pretty simple. The movement rules don’t require you to have an advanced degree in mathematics, charges feel fluid and flexible rather than extremely rigid and limiting like in some games, and the basics of the ruleset are learned quickly over a single game. I was even told by someone before getting into the game that they stayed away because the ruleset seemed “too simple”. I would argue the simpler ruleset when compared to older rank and flank games is just the modernization of miniature wargaming. Sure, sometimes we enjoyed playing those 5 hour long games of Warhammer Fantasy, but did you ever try to get someone new into that game? With a more streamlined ruleset comes the streamlining of the actual gameplay making it much easier to introduce new players to the game.
While the basic rules of the game are pretty straight forward, when the army rules, army building, and character customization are all added to the mix Conquest hits the perfect mark between a simple beer and pretzels game and a game that can support highly competitive tournament play. Right now the game is just getting its feet under it as far as tournaments go, but with the wide array of army building options I cannot wait for the tournament scene keep growing.
Two Games in One: Another interesting part of Para Bellum’s business model is creating two separate wargames that can be played with the same models. The Last Argument of Kings is their massed battle fantasy wargame with individual models being placed on square stands with four models. Ranking these stands up creates Regiments for the game, but in their skirmish level wargame the square stands go away. The game still plays with Regiments, but with a focus on unit coherency, kind of like Age of Sigmar. This is not a new concept in the industry, and companies like Games Workshop have 40k with Kill Team and Age of Sigmar with Warcry. However, the best part about getting two games in one from Para Bellum is it costs you absolutely nothing extra. With all of the rules, army lists, and an army builder provided completely free on their website Para Bellum ensures you will be able to use your smaller collection of models right from the get go in their skirmish game.
FLG events are starting to add Conquest tournaments to their offerings, and Conquest will be played at LVO this year. While the game is still growing I cannot wait to hear how the game is being received by the wargaming community. For my money there is not a better fantasy wargame out there right now. With easy to learn and access rules, amazing lore and world building, beautiful models, and a great company backing it I cannot wait to see where Para Bellum Games takes Conquest in 2023.