– By Massimo
I’ve been Playing Conquest since May of last year. With Version 2 of Conquest dropping and my Meta’ slow grow league done, my local Vanguard has marked March 25th as our first Conquest tournament. Today I’m going to talk about the 100 Kingdoms list I’ve been working on and playing since Version 2 came out in January in preparation for this upcoming tournament. The list is an adjustment of my Version 1.5.1 list for Version 2.
Out of the three army rules to choose from for 100 Kingdoms I chose Dynastic Alliances. This is because I’m only running two characters in the list and have chosen multiple expensive elite regiments. I also didn’t have enough points left over for Veterans. Relentless Drills on the other hand would have been a good choice but the Steel Legion already has a ton of attacks and the cavalry change allowing Impacts to affect all cavalry no matter where they are in the regiment I don’t lose out on much by not taking it. Dynastic Alliance on the other hand allows my Infantry regiments in the list to Vanguard giving them an extra movement action the turn they deploy from the Imperial Officers supremacy Rapid Deployment. Best part of this supremacy ability is that the Imperial officer doesn’t have to be on the table to benefit from it. Allowing you to build him to stay with a unit of Steel or Gilded Legion. While the Priory Commander’s supremacy The First Blessing gives regiments in his warband blessed allowing me to either reroll their clash or defense rolls once per round.
=== The Last Argument of Kings ===
March 25th 2023 [2000/2000]
The Hundred Kingdoms
Dynastic Alliances
== (Warlord) Priory Commander (Crimson Tower) [125]: Long Lineage, Olefant’s Roar
* Order of the Crimson Tower (5) [380]: Standard Bearer
* Order of the Crimson Tower (4) [300]: Standard Bearer
== Imperial Officer [245]: Dynastic Alliances Warlord, Standard of Steel, Armor of Dominion, Drill 1, Drill 2, Eccentric Fighting Style, Tactical 1, Tactical 2, Tactical 3
* Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [115]: Standard Bearer
* Men at Arms (3) [115]: Standard Bearer
* Steel Legion (6) [360]: Standard Bearer, Drillmaster
* Steel Legion (6) [360]: Standard Bearer, Drillmaster
Strategy behind the list:
I only have 8 cards to draw from my command stack and two of them are character cards. I’m playing fast and aggressive with my activations to make each regiment count for every round of the tournament.
My overall game plan is to have the Mercenary Crossbows come out and harass with their improved barrage of 3 thanks to Version 2. Hopefully they stick around as the game goes on but there are only 3 stands of Mercenary Crossbows and I don’t expect the world out of them. My Men at Arms are there to hold objectives in the back or middle of the board while the rest of my army moves up fighting my opponent.
Turn 3 is a big turn for me. I’m going to have guaranteed two of my heavies on the table and one of them is going to be the Imperial Officer in a brick of Steel Legion. My goal with the Steel Legion is to act as my anvil for the list. However, this is an anvil that can bite back. The Steel Legion is to be deployed either up the middle or in parts of the table where scenario elements are to start forcing my opponent to deal with these units and hopefully get them into combat on the scenario zones that they can score later on.
While that’s happening the Crimsons Towers that come out sometime during turn 3-5 will be riding around the sides to get charges into the flank with their devastating impact attacks to help crush those big targets as well as going for smaller lights and mediums to start killing them or head into the backline. Archers don’t like getting charged by Knights.
Priory Commander (Order of Crimson Tower) Warband
The Warlord for my list is the Priory Commander (Crimson Tower). I wanted him as my Warlord because he’s more durable and has an easier time killing characters in my list when I end up in duels with opposing characters. He is also heavy and comes in later in the game for me to counter deploy or hopefully keep him away from any Mimic Assassins. Having Turn the Tide on him compared to the Imperial Officer has helped me more as I’ve used it on the regiment he’s in to charge another regiment to break them and then have him duel that character to kill it before they use any of their abilities or cast spells.
There are little options for load outs of a Priory Commander (Crimson Tower). If you want to get an Heirloom you have to select the Long Lineage Masteries to get one. I did so and took Olefant’s Roar Heirloom.
The Regiment this Character Stand is currently attached to, gains the Glorious Charge Special Rule.
Glorious Charge
When a Stand with this Special Rule performs a successful Charge, its Impact Attacks are resolved with +1 Clash Characteristic and Terrifying (+1) until the end of the Round.
Mainstay options
The Priory Commander is going to be with my 5 stand brick of Crimson Tower Knights being buffed by this Heirloom getting their Clash to 4 and having Terrifying 2 when they do Impact attacks.
I’m running a 5 brick and a 4 brick of Crimson Towers Knights in my list. The 5 brick having the Priory Commander in it will increase his survivability by having more Crimson towers to kill as well as increasing their damage with Olefant’s Roar on their Impact attacks.
I’ll be running these two bricks on opposite ends of the table to spread out the Crimsons Towers and provide me with multiple threat angles for my opponent to deal with. The Large Brick with Priory Commander will be deployed to a side that has a major threat as they have damage output to clear it. While the smaller brick will be used to kill easier targets or make that dash into my opponents back line forcing them to turn around or deal with impacts coming from behind or in the side.
Imperial Officers Warband
Compared to the Priory Commander the Imperial Officer is going to be decked out with way more Heirlooms and Masteries then him.
I have both Standard of Steel and Armor of Dominion as Heirloom options for him.
Standard of Steel will provide Dread what will cause Enemy Regiments in contact with a Regiment with this Special Rule cannot benefit from the effects of the “Inspired” Special Rule. In instances where a Regiment or Stand always benefits from the “Inspired” Special Rule, this rule is superseded.
Armor of Dominion will cause Enemy Stands in contact with this Character Stand lose the Cleave (X) and Smite Special Rules.
Both these Heirlooms will increase his and the Steel Legion’s durability and take away the killing power of opposing regiments that they go up against.
Under Battlefield Drills I took Drill 1 and 2. Giving me both Bastion 1 and Double Time to the Regiment of Steel Legion that he’s attached to when they activate as he can trigger two draw events a turn. I took Drill 2 as it’s free and if he ever joins with the Men at Arms or Mercenary Crossbows he can speed them along with the extra movement provided.
The Eccentric Fighting Style Masteries was chosen because I had points left over and having more attacks with re-rolls seemed fun. Only downside to this is that he does reroll defensive rolls when he’s in a duel, but I’m going to try and refuse those as long as possible.
I went down to Tier 3 Tactical Retinue as I wanted two Heirlooms and Flank for a unit of Steel legion to get them on the board faster.
Mainstay options
I took a 3 stand regiment of both Mercenary Crossbows and Man at Arms as well as providing each a banner. Instead of having two regiments of Man at Arms to hold onto two objective zones I had one substituted as Mercenary Crossbows because I like that little bit of extra range shooting in my lists to have some chip damage and have a light that’s available to be on the board turn 1. If the Mercenary Crossbows survive past turn 3 they will normally live the rest of the game peppering targets with shots to finish them off or add some chip damage to help the other regiments in my list. Another way to use them is as a stalling draw to bait out my opponent in command stack chicken.
Men at Arms fill a similar role once they get into a zone they are going to score the whole game. Majority of the time I’m activating them last as my Crimson Tower Knights and Steel Legion have to do plenty of heavy lifting to achieve a victory.
Restricted Options
STEEL LEGION oh let me sing the praise of Conquest V2 Steel Legion. These big sword boys got a huge boost in survivability and offensive output. The changes from V1.51 to V2 gave the Steel Legion +1 attack base, as well as the Bravery and Oblivious special rule.
Bravery: This Regiment, including Character Stands, ignores the Fearsome and Terrifying (X) Special Rules. In addition, at the start of the Regiment’s Activation, after resolving any Draw Events but before performing its first Action, remove the Broken status from this Regiment.
Oblivious: Regiments with this Special Rule receive only 1 Wound for every 2 failed Morale Tests, rounding up.
I’ve found with the inclusion of these two defensive rules for the Steel Legion that they will take 1-2 casualties from Resolve rolls while also keeping the Imperial Officer safe from duels as you activate this unit first or early and remove the broken status for free. Being Broken in V2 is way worse than it was before.
With the command attachment of a Drillmaster the Regiment adds +1 to its Attacks Characteristic and gains the Double Time Draw Event. Increasing their base attack to 6. The list has two 6 stand blocks of Steel Legion in it for this reason. I’m generating 21 Cleave 2 attacks at C3 Inspired to C4. They mulch almost anything that gets in their way while having the survivability to hold the enemy regiment in place for the Crimson Towers to get the sweet Side charge in the flank.
Matchups and Counters.
I’ve been having great success with this list in my Meta. A lot of my opponents haven’t found good ways to clear off the Steel Legion except by sheer volume of attacks especially into the unit with the Imperial Officer.
The Crimson Towers have been doing well when I charge into the side after my opponent’s regiments get into fights with the Steel legion. I’ve even killed some characters with my Priory Commander. Though now my Meta has been putting defensive Heirlooms and Masteries on their characters as a result.
I’ve been carful playing into Horde lists and also target priority when going against list that have 1-2 strong units and a bunch of weaker ones running around hoping to bait out a charge and tie me up. Enemy regiments with high Cleave, Brutal Impact or Armor Pierce will break the armor of the Steel legion and the Crimson Towers. That’s where the target priority comes in to counter such regiments with the Imperial officer’s Steel Legion.
Conclusion
Overall it’s a low activation list with four very hard hitting regiments and two that provide support. The heavy regiments have the durability to get in a fight and to deal the damage back. Being aggressive is key while looking at what my opponent has for opposing regiments to target them correctly and at the right time to eliminate them. I’ve been enjoying this list so far and can’t wait for more 100 Kingdom models to come out to evolve this list more.