With the release of Para Bellum’s Conquest The Last Argument of Kings 2.0 (the full rules can be found free along with an army builder over on the Para Bellum website) comes the release of a brand new starter set for the game featuring two distinct factions. The prior starter sets featured the human One Hundred Kingdoms facing off against the evil faction of the Spires. The Spires are an alien race trapped on the planet the Conquest game is set on who use their skills in Biomancy to genetically alter the factions who were already present on Ea. As excited as I can get talking about the Spires lore in Conquest, they are not featured in the new starter set, but instead the new City States faction are facing off against the nordic Nords in this new box set.
City States: For the City States side of the starter set you will be getting one Character, 2 multi-kit Infantry regiments, and 1 multi-kit Brute regiment. This is a brand new faction in the game of Conquest, and their ancient Greek army ascetic makes for some amazing looking models when they are on the tabletop. The lore behind the City States faction is also fantastic and involves an incredibly smart man figuring out how to harness the power of the gods to creates steampunk like technology.
The Polemarch is the Character you will get for the City States, and this dude is all about buffing the infantry regiments in your army. With the Draw Event Battlefield Orders your Polemarch can make enemy regiments re-roll Volley rolls of 1 against his own regiment, or give out the Unyielding special rule to his own regiment which will take away your opponent’s ability to claim Objectives that your Polemarch’s regiment is contesting. If you choose to make the Polemarch your Warlord his Supremacy Ability, Army of Lions, gives an amazing buff to the regiment he is attached to by giving them +1 Clash, as well as giving all regiments within 6″ Tenacious for some awesome auto-passing resolve tests!
For the first infantry regiment for the City States we will take a look at the Hoplites. Coming in at the standard human stat lines of 4 wounds and attacks per stand, the 130pts price tag can seem a little steep for these guys. That is, only until you take a look at their special rules and Officer upgrades! Their Shields will give the Regiment Defense 3 while the Phalanx Special Rule pushes them to Defense 4 from attacks coming from their front arc. This is a great ability that the unit always has on regardless of when you draw their command card unlike the Bastion Draw Event which gives +1 Defense. The Phalanx Special Rule also comes with some downsides though. The unit can never count as Inspired on their attacks, and their charge rolls are always set at 3″, but for just 15pts you can purchase a Dorilates Officer upgrade for this Regiment giving them the Flurry Special rule allowing them to re-roll all missed Clash rolls while in combat.
The Phalagites also come with the Phalanx Special Rule, but lack a shield. This will put them at Defense 3 for a hefty 145pts. The Phalagites make up for their lack of shield with their pikes which give them the Pike Formation Special rule as will as Support 3! This means enemies charging the front arc of this unit subtract 3 from the each models total Impact Attacks! For my poor 100 Kingdoms Household Knights that is all of their attacks on the charge!
The last regiment for the City States in this new starter set can be built as either Minotaur Thyreans or Haspists. The Thyreans are the huge double handed weapon wielding minotaurs who get Cleave 3, Impact 3, AND Linebreaker. This unit makes for an absolutely devastating offensive output. The Haspists come in at 10pts cheaper and only have Cleave 1 and Impact 2, but they come equipped with Shields for 1 higher Defense as well as the amazing Vanguard Special Rule. This rule allows the Haspists move and additional time while deploying onto the battlefield from Reinforcements. This is an excellent ability for the minotaurs since their movement is only 6″.
That covers the units you will get for the City States half of the Conquest starter set, and for just 127.49 over on the Frontline Gaming webstore this box is an absolute steal if you are looking to get into Conquest by starting either the City States or Nords factions. The City States faction comes in around 600pts depending on how you equip you regiments and character, so you will be well on your way to having an entire 2000pts for Last Argument (not to mention an entire First Blood skirmish force!). Next week we will take a look at the Nords half of the starter set, so find a friend and split this awesome starter set to get into an absolutely fantastic miniatures wargame.