The most human of factions included in Para Bellum’s Conquest miniature wargame is the classic looking Hundred Kingdoms (100K). Fans of fantasy wargaming will be more familiar with this faction more than any other in the Conquest universe as they are the typical humans dropped in an extremely frightening fantasy world. Unfortunately for the 100K, they are not the pinnacle of fantasy human societies working as one to better their entire race, but instead they are called the Hundred Kingdoms because they represent the exact opposite of those ideals. This society is fractured into hundreds of smaller kingdoms that are trying to prosper in a world with aliens who clone their armies with flesh-crafting, super-human Vikings who were made lab experiments by the aliens, undead roman-looking legions who are empowered by the 100K former god, and very hungry orcs riding dinosaurs. If you are looking to field an army of brave men and women wielding swords and shields against all of that the 100K are for you!
The Conquest 1 Player Starter Sets come with a single character and four Regiments to fill out the included character’s warband. The 100k starter set (found in the FLG webstore with a ton of other awesome Conquest products) comes with some great units that you will use even after expanding your collection.
Militia/Militia Bowman: For the light infantry options the starter set comes with the option to build 2 regiments of Militia or Militia Bowman. Unlike some other games starter sets, Conquest gives you the bits needed to build 2 regiments of Bowman or 2 full regiments of Militia depending on your preference. Building a regiment of Militia gives you some melee light infantry that are extremely fragile and not frightening at all in combat. That is until you add a Theist Priest to your collection. The buffs a Priest can hand out to these guys can make them punch better than most elite infantry in the game, but you will need more stands of Militia to add to this regiment (unless you build out all 6 stands in this starter set as Militia). The Militia Bowman on the other hand are one of the worst units in the entire game, and there is not much buffing that is going to help that. They can be made Veterans for a slight points upgrade to make their shooting more accurate, but their real use is being the cheapest unit available in the 100K faction for some cheap access to more restricted units.
Household Knights: The 100K are unique in the game of Conquest in that they do not have classic fantasy monsters included in their army list. Instead, they have the classic knight in shining armor to be their fast monster killing cavalry. These are the army’s most basic cavalry, but they can still pack quite a punch. Unfortunately, this starter set does not come with a the Mounted Noble Lord as his Supremacy ability and upgrades can really unlock the high damage potential of Household Knights.
Household Guard: This regiment is one of the best close combat units available to the 100K. With their high Clash value and Cleave 1 built into their profile they have a great all round melee profile, but throwing the Noble Lord into this regiment with some upgrades can really take them from a solid melee unit to a terrifying problem your opponent needs to solve. By grabbing another box of Household Guard a 100K player can make the most out of their Support rule that allows the regiment to have a ton of extra attacks due to their weapons allowing them to fight in multiple ranks, and by taking the Relentless Drills army rule they can get even more attacks piled onto their profile!
Noble Lord (on foot): The Noble Lord may not have the most exciting character profile with his lack of spells or other abilities to utilize during his activation. However, what the Noble Lord lacks in utility he makes up for with his raw melee output. Just by picking one of the free Weapon Arts upgrades for the Noble you will be getting a solid buff for no points investment. My favorite of these is Weapons Master which gives Cleave 1 to the Noble Lord’s attack profile. This allows you to not worry about buffing his offensive output when selecting other upgrades as much letting you focus on things like magic banners or other buffing relics that will help the regiment you lord is in. His Supremacy ability is also excellent as it lets an infantry regiments within 6 inches of the Noble Lord re-roll 6s to hit AND on their defense rolls! While not a huge aura ability, it can make the regiment the Noble Lord is leading extremely resilient and deadly.
What Next: This starter set comes in around 600pts of models, so you will need to make some additional purchases to fill out your 100K army. If you can find them, the original two player starter sets containing Spires and 100K are a great addition to the regiments in the one player starter. These can usually be found relatively cheap and will get you a Mounted Noble Lord, 6 stands of Men At Arms, Crossbowmen, and 3 more stands of Household Knights. The Mounted Noble Lord and Knights will give you a solid hammer to throw into your 100K army, and the Crossbowmen and Men At Arms are solid units you will never regret bringing to the table. Of course, you might also want to bring a spellcaster in the form of a Theist Priest (especially if you built all your infantry as Militia) or a Chapter Mage to include some utility spells in your army. Just note that the Chapter Mage can only be brought with Men At Arms or Crossbowmen, so you will need those regiments first before including her in any 100K army.
Hopefully this breakdown of the 100K One Player Starter Set helps potential 100K players jump into the amazing game of Conquest. The army building can be a little confusing for new players at first due to the Mainstay and Restricted tags on regiments, and certain Regiments being restricted to certain characters, but this starter set is the perfect place to begin you 100K journey into Conquest.
Remember FLG carries all kinds of Conquest products in their webstore at a discount!