From Quarantine to the Battlefield: How I Became a Conquest Fan

In the year of our lord 2020, during March, our country slowly began to lock down into quarantine. So, I decided to finally dive into a hobby I’d been eyeing for a good 10 years: painting models. At the time, I wasn't even considering wargaming itself. I already had a few models at home, but they were in a sorry state. Well, I checked what was in stock, added some “new plastic” to my stash, and got to work.

Discovering Conquest

It went smoothly, and soon I started looking for something I could really sink my teeth into. Naturally, we have several giants on the market, notoriously well-known. But something else caught my eye. The artwork of a strange archer with a bone mask and three arms. A few clicks later, and lo and behold, I discovered the Para Bellum Games website. I had discovered Conquest.

Information hit me like a wave of biomass, as the aforementioned archer belonged to the Spires army. He was a member of an alien race that had arrived in the fantastic world of Eä eons ago—refugees who found salvation here after the destruction of their own world. These beings, capable of shaping living matter with mere willpower, subsequently stood behind most of the events throughout the ages. I fell in love with them immediately and didn't wait a second. I ordered a 2-player starter set, plus a few boxes of units (mostly those three-armed archers), that very same day.

First Gaming Experiences

Once I painted the models and posted them on Facebook, it was a freefall. A friend of mine reached out, refusing to be deterred by my excuses: “I can’t, I don’t have time, I’m just painting them, I have a headache, I haven't showered,” and he talked me into a game. In that game, he let my marksmen clones (those three-armed shooters) shoot down a giant T-Rex, and I was hooked. I’ve been “Conquesting” ever since.

2 Games in 1: The Last Argument of Kings and First Blood

Conquest is actually two games. The titular The Last Argument of Kings, a regiment-based version representing large battles, and First Blood, a skirmish variant with small groups of soldiers led by a hero. You can use the models in both versions, just like their activation cards. The core mechanics are almost identical, too. First Blood offers a simple start where you only need a hero and two boxes of units (or you can grab a special starter available for each faction, which has a great price-to-content ratio), and you can start playing. Well, first you have to assemble and paint them. We know how it works with wargames, right?

Model Quality

The models themselves are in a larger scale than most other comparable games. This has its pros and cons. I understand that old veterans who don't know what else to play aren't exactly thrilled about models that will stand out from their collection. Conversely, for me as a newcomer, it was a pleasant change after the miniature models I started with. At the same time, I can observe the gradual improvement, as I’ve been on the Conquest ship almost from the beginning.

Development and Support from Para Bellum Games

The first sprues had certain imperfections, but on the other hand, for me, they were mainly drone models—I have about 60 of them now and I count that I'm only halfway through, simply because: “There is no such thing as enough drones.” So, extra sharp details like fingernails, engravings on rings, or earrings weren't really the point. However, newer models already achieve such details, as my dear brother would confirm after painting the nails on his Valkyries. In the 5 years since release, the Para Bellum team has come a long way.

What hasn't changed from the beginning, and I hope never will, is the developers' approach to players. Whether it's supporting even the smallest communities, distributing rules, or especially the way they communicate with players and involve them in development.

Regularly updated rules are completely free to download. The same goes for the app, which displays all unit and hero abilities, faction rules, etc., directly in the builder. And when a bug appears (we are only human, after all), it just gets fixed online; there's no need to issue errata for it.

Overall, all things considered, the personal approach of the developers, their active participation in discussions, and the involvement of the entire community in aspects of development are very appealing to me.

New Factions and the Living World

The way new factions are released is definitely worth mentioning. After the first 5 armies, it was time for a vote. Players received basic conceptual information about 3 armies and voted on which one would come next. The Living World is created in a similar way. Stories take place in the world of Eä, where the community decides the direction of the plot through their votes.

Unique Conquest Mechanics

And now, something about the gameplay itself. What makes Conquest different from other wargames?

Here, I’ll focus on the regiment version, The Last Argument of Kings (TLAOK for short). The two most important differences are the Command Stack and Reinforcement.

The Command Stack is a deck of cards, each representing one regiment on the table as well as heroes. At the beginning of each round (before player initiative is determined), both players prepare their regiment cards face down in the order they want to activate them. You have to plan ahead, anticipate your opponent's moves, and for some factions, account for wanting to buff/debuff. Only then is the player order determined by a die roll, and players take turns activating individual units. You really have to plan carefully and calculate that you can lose priority just as easily as you can win it. And you have to accept that sometimes you just have to sacrifice something.

The second specialty of Conquest is Reinforcement. Regiments don't start on the table; they enter the game gradually depending on their category (light, medium, heavy). Light units get into the game early but won't help you score objectives. Heavy units are usually powerful and strong, but they arrive in later rounds. Again, this brings interesting dilemmas, especially when list-building, where you have to balance the ratio of different units so you have all the tools (or have a different plan if you don't).

Another peculiarity, and in my view the sexiest one, is that you roll under target numbers. So, if you curse your dice for constantly rolling ones, Conquest is the game for you. Ones are great. Well, unless you're charging. You always want to roll as high as possible for a charge.

Models and Regiments

In TLAOK, models move on square stands. Infantry units contain four models, cavalry and brutes one each. A minimum of three stands then forms a regiment (this is the amount included in the boxes). A regiment can, of course, be larger. They can take more damage, but they are harder to maneuver. Monsters don't group into regiments, but their stand is much larger.

The monster models are another draw of Conquest. They are truly huge and you can't miss them on the table. Whether it's the giant dinosaurs of the W’adrhun, the abominations of the Spires, or the proud Jotnar, each of them knows how to grab proper attention and destroy just about anything. As for destruction, completely wiping out the opponent's army is no guarantee of victory. The winner is decided by points earned according to a specific scenario. So, if you gain a sufficient point lead before the enemy army clears you out, you can still win. On the other hand, as Sergeant Zim said in Starship Troopers: “The enemy cannot push a button if you disable his hand.”

Factions in Conquest

While we're sharing impressions, I'll briefly mention the factions themselves. Most of them will evoke something from real history at first glance. I see this shorthand as an attempt to give the player an idea of what to expect. But there is always a twist, something different, new, and unexpected. For example, the Spires. Ancient, immortal, unearthly beautiful beings, possessing the wisdom of ages, with a hard-to-understand agenda and an incredible amount of arrogance. Does that remind you of something? Of course it does, but these are aliens who use their power to control living matter, twisting, reshaping, and cloning it, and their only ethical constraint is efficiency.

Similar surprises await almost everywhere. Who would have thought that the Dweghom, great miners and craftsmen with ancestral memory, would also be some of the most powerful sorcerers?

The Hundred Kingdoms represent medieval armies of the European style—noble houses with their retinues, remnants of imperial troops, mercenaries, and knightly orders.

The City States represent enlightened cities whose aesthetic breathes antiquity and old Greek myths, spiced up with advanced mechanics. So, alongside hoplites with mechanical arms, you can deploy satyrs or minotaurs.

The Nords bring living legends of the far north to the table: cruel raiders, furious berserkers, proud Jotnar towering to the heavens, wild fenr, and mystical valkyries.

The W’adrhun, riding dinosaur-like creatures, are a proud race bred by the Spires purely for war. But they escaped and founded their own civilization. Wild, harsh, but also full of traditions and rituals. Their army literally sings in battle.

Even Eä has its dark side. The Old Dominion, once the cradle of human civilization, is now a black scar on the world. With the fall of their god Hazlia, the Dominion fell too. But it didn't stay fallen for long. Both the god and his believers rose in undeath to destroy what they hate most: life.

The Newest Faction: Sorcerer Kings

And finally, the Sorcerer Kings. The newest faction, subjects of powerful sorcerers who are responsible for the death of Hazlia himself, the god of humanity. They combine the aesthetics of the Thousand and One Nights with Indian mythology and provide a complex gaming experience. The world of Conquest is a combination of established forms that we all know and somehow subconsciously need, with new and unexpected spice.

Conclusion

I once came across the question: “Why should I play Conquest?” At that moment, I couldn't answer. It really depends on who is asking. However, if you are looking for a game that has beautiful models, regularly updated rules including a free app, a living and evolving lore, and all this from developers who aren't afraid to communicate personally and actively support the community, welcome! As far as I know, no one from Para Bellum Games has ever said anything to the effect that they want to compete with, you know who. That they want to replace anyone. They are simply here with a world they believe in, where you can become a warlord whose glory will touch the celestial vault. Because the powerful of the world always have one last argument up their sleeve.

author Tomáš Valluch