With lockdown hopefully behind us for good in the UK, Chris and I managed to get our first game of Parabellum's Conquest: First Blood, a fantasy skirmish force game using similar mechanics (with a few minor differences) to those of Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings, a larger scale fantasy game...
I'm using my fully painted 100 Kingdoms, while Chris has already moved on to the W'adrhun (think Orcs, Zulu's and dinosaurs), his third army, newly arrived, unpacked and built, so not unpainted as yet. They will be colourful for sure, and are exquisite sculpts like all the para Bellum figures...
With it being our first game, we kept it simple by playing the first scenario: Plunder the Camp
I set up the board, to base the battle field as an area where a marauding force of W'ADRHUN had been raiding, and destroyed a magnificent, ancient oak...
The stump marks the centre objective (worth 2 VP's) from turn 2 onwards. The other two objectives were worth one point to the player on whose side they were on, and 3 if it was the one farthest from your deployment. The wooden hut could garrison 8 troops and give +1 defence save.
The first to 8 VP's would win the game...
The W'ADRHUN raiders force Chris had selected was based pretty much on the models he had available:
The warband was led by a Matriach Queen of the Cult of Death, leading 7 Blooded and 8 Braves. She was supported by a Predator leading a unit of 6 Hunters and a pair of Raptor Riders as below. (More pics later)
This meant Chris had 3 light units, 2 medium and one heavy (Predator, hunters and raptors - Light, Blooded & Braves - Medium, Matriarch - Heavy). As with Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings, the forces in First Blood advance onto the field of battle, with light units arriving turn 1 on a 3+, lights on 3+ turn 2 with medium on 5+, lights automatically turn 3, medium 3+, heavy 5+ and so on...
My own valiant 100 Kingdom force was literally thrown into disarray when I dropped one of my boxes, which while not badly hurting any figure irreparably did damage my Theist Priest whom I had planned to lead my forces (the sword is broken and lost and was obviously a sign from the Gods not to use him). I just need a W'adrhun head I can make him grasp instead now...
So I opted for the force below: a medium Imperial Officer (actually using the Drillmaster model as he looks the part) with 7 Steel Legion (Heavy) & 12 Men-at- Arms. A mounted Noble Lord joined the hunt with two of his Household Knights (both medium) and their beaters, 12 Militia (Light)
My Imperial Officer tells the Steel Legion how it is...
The Noble Lord and his two household Knights...
The Men-at-Arms...
Chris is the better painter, and his W'adrhun Scions look awesome. These guys will too, when he gets paint on them, as the detail is great. Guess which one is the Predator?
The Queen is from the Cult of Death, which means her troops and her flip cards when activated, and can do a chant for a Battle Cry bonus based on number of cards out (minimum of two). this new mechanic can be crucial to get the right result in a melee by boosting the W'adrhun's attacks...
A brief excerpt of the "Chant" system
While the characters are resin and highly detailed, the standard infantry units are not run of the mill as you can tell from the Braves below....
Every six strong infantry unit gets a leader with a free standard at twelve. I used a Veteran to make my Steel legion leader stand out...
And my Militia are just awaiting orders...
You can almost tell from their poses who is eager to prove himself, and who doesn't really want to be here...
TURN 1
I managed to get a light unit on while Chris managed 2...
The W'adrhun Hunters marched on into the treeline on my right
While the local Militia were first on the scene
The Predator and accompanying 1 man retinue were next on (retinue's enhance characters abilities)
Not on board yet, the local Imperial Officer was still barking orders...
TURN 2
The Hunters advanced out of the woods to lob spears at the advancing militia but were just out of range...
But not so from the Predator, who unleashed a volley into the blissfully ignorant Militia...
The Predator is lethal. One of Conquests unique factors is that the lower the roll, the better, especially in shooting and in melee.
With 5 hits, my Militia shields only managed to stop 2 shots...
And I lost another to a failed resolve, when he panicked and fled...
Still, my Men-at-Arms had arrived in close proximity to secure the Sword in the Stone objective...
TURN 3
Another unique feature of the Conquest game is the card activation for units, where you choose the cards to represent your unit activation for the turn. It's simply a great way of representing confusion on the battle field, as you invariably always don't get the right result and order when you want them. I drew first activation, and my Militia fled into the shack, having been reduced down to the maximum 8 capacity the previous turn...
So close to the objective, but they would not stand to another round of the Predator...
And when the W'adrhun Braves appeared, it seemed like the Militia made the right call.
Especially when a pair of Raptor riders joined them. These light cavalry have throwing spears and the Raptors are deadly in melee...
Despite the walls, a pair of spears dropped two Militia...
The Imperial Officer showed up, yelling at the Men-at-Arms to advanced and secured St Mancini's stump...
And the Household Knights sped up and around the rocky hill to threaten the Hunters...
With both forces arriving in strength, battle would soon be joined
The W'adrhun Hunters sought safety from the Knights by dropping back into the woods while lobbing some spears their way. A few struck home but the thick barding held...
My mounted Noble Lord sped on looking to close in on the enemy assassin!!!
Of course, presented with such a tasty target, the Predator took careful aim and scored two wounds on the Noble...
The Battle of St Mancini's stump was about to be joined in earnest, with the Men at Arms scoring Two VP's, the Noble lord one to add to last turns, and the Braves gained one for the dispatches they found in the field.
End of Turn 3
W'ADRHUN 1 VP
100 KINGDOMS 4 VP's
TURN 4
The W'adrhun won the initiative again and Chris was anxious to see the Raptor Riders get into melee
They may be light cavalry, but the Raptors are ferocious...
Chris has now started painting them too...
They lost additional men to failed morale but struck back scoring 3 wounds
Despite the woods being hindering terrain (no impact hits from the charge, no inspire (+1 to hit)), my household Knights charged in...
A pair of Knights on an open field would spell the end, but in a copse of trees, their attacks were mostly avoided...
Although two hunters fell to their attacks...
In response, the Hunters managed to score a wound...
The Imperial Officer moved up to embolden the Men-at-Arms...
While the W'adrhun Braves failed to calm their Bloodlust, forcing them to charge in against the Militia defending the hut...
Amazingly, the Militia held off the assault, taking no wounds as they defended the doors and windows..
The clashes were ferocious all across the clearing..
The Bloodlust of the Braves was stymied by the Militia's makeshift barricades...
While the cavalry charge was hindered by the treeline the hunters had wisely retreated to...
In an effort to stop a heroic intervention, the Predator assassinated the mounted Noble before he had a chance to engage...
Inspired by their ability tp withstand the charge, the Militia attacked back, scoring 3 hits...
Killing 2 of the Braves...
The Blooded arrived on the scene, rushing to assist the hunters...
With centre objective being contested, and the other two being ignored, the score at the end of the Turn was unchanged. The numerical superiority of the 100K patrol was being reduced. The Steel legion may be too slow to arrive in time...
100K 4 VP's W'ADRHUN 1 VP
TURN 5
I won the initiative, and the first card out was my Imperial officer. Having lost the Noble lord, the Imperial Officer decided to take control directly, charging in to assist the Militia
Perhaps he sought to negotiate, with a stern telling off to the W'adrhun, as sadly he scored no hits nor wounds...
As mentioned earlier, the Death cult cards were stacking up...
Nice artwork...
And they were used by the Raptor Riders, giving them precision strikes...
They scored six hits and I failed all six saving rolls...
Men-at-Arms were literally torn apart...
Unaware of the carnage the W'adrhun Light cavalry had wrought in the centre, the 100 Kingdom medium cavalry rolled exceedingly well...
Obliterating the lightly armoured Hunters...
The Matriarch Queen had turned up last turn with the Steel legion (both being heavy units)
She entered into a brief discussion with the Imperial Officer...
Seeing their officer slain during negotiations, the Militia were shaken, only rolling one hit for no wounds on the Braves...
The Braves struck back, inspired by the presence of their Queen, scoring 3 wounds. But again, the militia managed to fend off their attacks undamaged...
The Predator targeted the two household knights, due to their height allowing for line of sight, but the Knights armour stood up to the rain of bolts...
The Blooded whipped themselves into a frenzy and launched an assault...
And this time the armour was not match for the fury of the W'adrhun...
The remaining Knight, wounded and alone, fled the field when his resolve failed...
End of Turn 5
The Steel Legion had marched up to face off against the Raptors. With their 8 men, they had more strength and so counted as controlling the objective. However, my force was down to 2 units, while the W'adrhun had both characters and more troops...
100 KINGDOMS 6 VP's
W'ADRHUN 1 VP
Getting the first activation would be key if the 100K were to prevail...
Sadly, the W'adrhun won the roll and activated the Raptors...
The Raptors charged in...
And thought they killed 3 men, the rest remained resolute...
They responded by hacking down one of the Raptors...
The Braves again attacked the Militia, but one again the low-born soldiers valiantly held on...
The Matriach Queen then activated, wielding her wicked Glaive as she slammed into the Steel legions flank
The vicious blade easily cut down the remaining Steel Legion, securing the central objective...
The Blooded marched up into range of the Sword in the stone, securing a total of 5 VP's with teh central one secure too...
END of TURN 6
W'ADRHUN 6 VP's
100 KINGDOMS 6 VP's
The battle was over, and the Militia knew it...
Their comrades and leaders dead, their stoic resistance collapsed and the Braves finally overcame them...
END of TURN 7
W'ADRHUN 11 VP's
100 KINGDOMS 6 VP's
A great start to our first blood endeavours, and plenty more to come...
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