UK Games Expo 2023

Hey everyone, after an excellent weekend at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham, UK I thought I'd share my experiences at my first ever Conquest event. I'd strongly recommend trying out war gaming events, tournaments and the like even if you're not a competitive player. You get to meet some really cool people and have fun playing games, if you win anything then so much the better!

Anyway, the event was ran by community hero Dave who organised both the three round main event and a free for all the following day. Para Bellum's team came across to meet us and chat too including their Community Manager Giannis, all of which were fantastic to get to know.

As there are three games to get through I won't go round by round, but try and capture the key aspects in the early, mid and late games.

The list I brought can be found below.

The W'adrhŭn

== Warlord Scion of Conquest [170]: Death, Death\'s Gaze, One Voice, Conquest 1
* Braves 6 [235]: Standard Bearer

== Matriarch Queen [145]: Death, Brood of Omgorah
* Warbred 3 [210]: 
* Raptor Riders 3 [210]: Huntress

== Predator [100]: Death, Ceaseless Hunt, Conquest 1
* Blooded 5 [255]: Standard Bearer, Aberration
* Slingers 3 [175]: Skirmisher

The W'adrhun prepare for battle!

The Event

The UK Games Expo is a massive event with dozens of vendors, tournaments and other events going on. Whilst its definitely expensive and I didn't make the most of the rest of the venue, it was really cool going to my first big games event 

Game 1 - Dweghom

My first game again Mike using his beatifully painted Dweghom. I'd had a couple of games against Dweghom with my locals so I knew a little about their mechanics and recognised some units like the Helldrake. His list was as follows:

== Warlord Tempered Sorcerer [140]: Graft of Fire, Fire School, Hellbringer Sorcerer
* Fireforged 3 [180]: 
* Hold Ballistae 3 [140]: 
* Hellbringer Drake 1 [180]: 
* Inferno Automata 3 [190]:

== Hold Raegh [115]: Arena Champion, Fuelled by the Furnace
* Hold Warriors 4 [180]: Standard Bearer
* Initiates 3 [145]: 
* Dragonslayers 3 [230]: Standard Bearer

A powerful ranged list with some solid hitting power in the Hold Warriors and Dragonslayers. I'm familiar with the astonishing output of the Hellbringer Sorcerer, something I was keen not to feel again! We played Breakout, but the objectives on the outside two zones were removed on the TO's discretion. 

Early Game - I brought on my Queen and Raptors early to pressure his objective, taking a wound off in shooting and looking to finish it with Impact and Charges the following turn. Mike made a move I wasn't expecting however and March/Charges his Inferno Automata from about 16" away into the Raptors. The combination of Impact attacks and Aura of Death killed off two of the Raptors, who were finished off the following turn by the Fireforged shooting and leaving single Automata alive. Ouch!

I pressured the left zone with my Scion and Braves facing his Hold Raegh and Warriors whilst the Blooded and Dragonslayers squared off on the right side. My Slingers and Warbred reinforced the centre whilst his Hellbringer marched up behind a block of initiated into the centre zone. I scored some early points on the left side thanks to my aggression with my Braves but neither of us cleared objectives in the early game.

Battle lines approach as the Automata launch into the Raptors

Mid Game - My Scion and Braves got the jump on his Hold Warriors to stop them getting into the zone, but also demonstrated their astonishing damage potential with Impact 2, Glorious Charge and Death Tier 2 wiping out the unit nearly. A close duel between our characters nearly killed my Scion had it not been for the Indominatable from his retinue keeping him alive on one wound. More significantly, the Dragonslayers rolled appalling on the Blooded allowing the Warbred to clear through the last Automata and get the flank on them. Over two turns the Dragonslayers were wiped out letting the Blooded fully control the right side zone.

The Warbred and Slingers were ground down by the Ballistae, Hellbringer and Sorcerer but it took four turns for the Initiates to destroy my objective thanks to some similarly bad dice, stalling out Dweghom scoring the centre and catching up. 

Brutal charges on both flanks collapse the outsides whilst the
Dweghom are stalled in the centre

Late Game - The Braves finished off the Hold Warriors and Raegh and reformed to prepare for the Hellbringer advancing on them, whilst the Warbred were finished by the Fireforged. Due to the round timing we only got through 8 out of 10 turns but couldn't finish the rest at which the score was 15-9 to the W'adrhun. There wasn't a clear outcome for what the last two turns would have brought, but Mike showed great sportsmanship and pushed for me to take the win on the scores as they stood, leaving to a W'adrhun Victory!

This was a great game with a lot of learning points for me. I had been tunnel visioned on what my Queen and Raptors would do without considering how the Dweghom would respond and I lost over a quarter of my Army for nearly nothing as a result. The Braves really impressed me with their damage output on that charge and locking down the left zone, the Cleave 2 Scion both supporting them and causing Interference when the Sorcerer came at them.

I must admit I do feel a little guilty as I was having to check lots of stats and rules as the game went which if I had known better we might have gotten the definitive round answer. Kudos again to Mike for being a gentleman about the situation, and I'm pleased that he got another Hellbringer kit from the prize pool. Onto Round 2!

Game 2 - Spires

My second game was against Spires, a faction I'd never played before.  Dave, the TO, had an awesome army including two Abominations, one called Jackie hilariously converted into a martial arts pose. His list was as follows:

== Warlord Pheromancer [155]: Cascading Degeneration, Plaguelord, Flesh 1
* Force-Grown Drones 7 [210]: 
* Abomination 1 [150]: 

== Biomancer [165]: Ablative Flesh, Mastery of Flesh 1, Mastery of Flesh 2, Mastery of Flesh 3
* Force-Grown Drones 7 [210]: 
* Abomination 1 [150]: 

== High Clone Executor [115]: Infiltrator  Variant
* Vanguard Clone Infiltrators 3 [180]: 
* Vanguard Clones 3 [160]:

We played Melee, but with 9" zones on the outer edges rather than 12" zones. You also gain 2 VPs for every Character and Unit wiped out, making this a particularly high scoring game! Notably a huge river ran through the centre of the board which reduces the Clash of any units mostly within it, and the left zone was fully taken up with a garrison tower. We were all joking that we had no idea how garrison rules worked and would ignore them, so I think Dave wanted to make sure we learnt something new today!

Early Game - I pushed my Slingers and Predator up centrally to whittle down both blocks of Force Grown Drone blocks advancing down the centre. I quickly learnt just how fast this unit could regenerate, and pretty much gave up shooting them! My Braves and Warbred followed up the centre to reinforce the Slingers, and the Blooded began a race to the tower on the left against the Vanguard Clones, narrowly getting into the tower before them.

I pressed very aggressively on the right with my Raptors to control the right zone. Being a Heavy character, the queen can still score it and with the huts nearby I figured it would help split up the Spire forces. "Jackie" the Abomination and the Vanguard Infiltrators deployed against them and took out a Raptor with shooting, allowing the Abomination to contest the Zone and slow down my scoring.

Giant blocks of Drones charge over the river into the orcs...

Whilst Jackie faces off aginst the Raptor Riders!

Mid Game - I won the face off on the right and my Queen and Raptors got to charge and take out the Abomination, only to be slain by the Infiltrators shooting shortly after. Morover, the second Abomination sprinted up to where the first had fallen, securing the right hand zone.

The Braves and Scion managed to blow though the left side Drones over several turns, along with some supporting fire from the Slingers to break them before their healing could begin. The Infiltrators killed off a stand of Blooded, but suffered badly from the Lethal Demise thanks to the Abberant and allowed the Blooded to finish them off and claim the tower on the left. The Warbred charged into the right side Drones but did little impact on the charge. However some astonishing dice on a subsequent clash allowed them to demolish most of the unit before they lost too many in return. The Abomination sprinted across the battlefield into the slingers at the back, killing half the unit in a brutal exchange of blows but surviving on only a few wounds itself.

Late Game - The Warbred finished off the second Drone block, just to see the Infiltrators rush around to the centre of the board and wipe them out in return. The Abomination wiped out the Slingers, but as the Predator hadn't fought yet he got to attack as they were destroyed, which killed the Abomination to the wound exactly! Double Kill!

The score was far ahead for W'adrhun now, but we played to the end to see what the Infiltrators could do. Turns out they could wipe out the Braves too and bring the Blooded in their tower down to only two stands at the end! At the end of it all the score was 57 - 17 to W'adrhun!

The siege of Blooded Tower!

This was certainly the most entertaining game of the event, very much a product of Dave's personality and humour. The game was loud, full of humour and had some really funny moments like the Abomination double kill and the siege of "Blooded Tower". It was a pleasant reminder of the importance of enjoying your games and not being too caught up on the scoreboard.

Game 3 - 100 Kingdoms

The final game was against one of my locals, Hywel with his 100 Kingdoms force. Though I've never been a personal fan of the "ordinary humans" in fictional wargames, I really like the Dark Souls style of gritty humans in a terrible world. Hywels paint scheme leans into this vision and his Household Knights were particularly impressive to see! His list was as follows:

== Warlord Imperial Officer [155]: Armor of Dominion, Brace for Impact, On Your Feet, Disorienting Strikes, Tactical 1, Tactical 2, Tactical 3
* Militia Bowmen 3 [75]: 
* Steel Legion 4 [245]: Standard Bearer, Drillmaster

== Warlord Mounted Noble Lord [180]: Olefant's Roar, Weapon Master, Tip of the Lance
* Household Guard 5 [265]: Veterans, +1 Clash, Standard Bearer, Armsmaster
* Mounted Squires 3 [135]: Standard Bearer
* Household Knights 5 [310]: Veterans, Standard Bearer, Tourney Champion
* Longbowmen 3 [135]:

The scenario was Maelstorm, a deceptively simple mission. For the first four and final two turns, the central zone scores 2VP and the outside zones 1VP. This is reversed during turns five to eight, rewarding the ability to manoeuvre around the battlefield. We played on the same table as my first game, so no major changes there.

Early Game - 100 Kingdoms pushed the left flank aggressively with the Squires and Militia Bowmen, which I countered with the Slingers and Braves. I normally automatically bring on my Queen and Raptors first to aggressively push zones, but I wanted the Slingers to start pressuring his light units earlier. The Squires absorbed an incredible amount of shooting and rushed down the left side of the board as a flank issue for the Braves, whilst the Household Knights followed up and postured for a devastating charge. 

The Blooded and Household Guard raced to the tower on the right, with the Houseguard winning the race to get inside. However, Blooded with Tier 2 Death put out ~25 attacks at Clash 4 and 1s ignoring Defence, which pretty handilly removed most of them even with the Defence boost from the tower. The fact that the Blooded also explode and do more hits only made things worse, as once again the Blooded claim their tower.

See that big block of cavalry behind the water bottle? Yeah that's coming soon...

Mid Game - The left side of the board was a strange standoff between the Braves and the Household Knights. In Conquest, a Charge is one of your two actions (March + d6 to contact another unit) but unlike most wargames you don't get to make melee attacks automatically. Whilst most commonly you'll see a Charge + Clash activation, in some situations you might March + Charge to engage a unit even if you can't then attack them after.

Hywel was concerned that I might be able to Move and Charge with the Braves to deny him his Impact hits and bonuses. To that end, he took the initiative and did his own Move and Charge into the Braves. Despite him not getting his Clash, his Impacts alone took out almost four full stands of Braves which is more than terrifying! The response from the Braves killed a knight, but in a state of accidental genius I managed to flank charge the knights with the Slingers that had just chanted Tier 2 Death, letting me kill another three knights!

The Steel Legion moved up to the centre zone and anchored down, with my Warbred posturing in the trees for a charge into them. The Raptors came in behind the Braves to clean up the Squires.

Support from the Slingers and Raptors routs the Knights and Squires

Late Game - Despite the valiant charge of the Knights, the Blooded and Slingers finished them off and claimed the left zone with the Raptors following up behind. The Warbred did charge in eventually to the Steel Legion, but with the Character nullifying Cleave they did almost nothing and died horribly for their pride. The Raptors held down the left zone whilst the Braves went after the Milita Bowmen, then the Longbowmen who had finished off the Slingers. In a final act of defiance, the Steel Legion abandoned the centre zone to rear charge my Braves and wipe them out, though locking down both flanks had let me secure enough points. So in a final final act of Defiance I charged my Raptors out of the zone into the rear of the Steel Legion, wiping them out! The final (final final) score was 23-5 for a W'adrhun Victory!

The Raptor Riders charge to avenge the fallen Scion

I felt much more confident in this game with knowing what my units were and how I wanted to use them, showing in the speed in which we played being much faster than my last two games. That being said, the game was dictated by the big Knights block that could rightfully oneshot anything I had on the board. I don't think my opponent necessarily made a mistake by charging in with his knights given how much damage they did, but I don't think either of us saw or expected the Slinger's flank charge to be so brutally effective. W'adrhun don't have elite stats, but the flexibility of the Chanting system means that almost any unit can become deadly if buffed at the right time.

And of course, Blooded Tower continues to meme its way to victory. They spent a total of 15 turns inside towers over the event, which give there's only 30 turns is impressive!

Closing Thoughts

So yeah, by no small amount of luck I managed to win the event! I was awarded a golden Fishgnome trophy by Giannis and a box of Veterans, though I'm pleased that all players received something from the prize support.

Its hideous. And glorious. I love it.

I'm overall pleased with the list I brought. The Braves and Scion were absolute machines both absorbing punishment and dealing it out, and I was impressed with the Blooded more than I thought I would be. The Raptors and Queen is an awesome scoring unit at the start, but that ~400 point unit is very fragile and disintegrates fast given how far forward they deploy normally. 

The Warbred underperformed compared to what I expected, but I think I need to use them better into their targets. Finally, The Slingers and Predator do some good ranged pressure, but I'm not sure they do 300 points worth of contribution especially when they can't score zones. I've got a couple of purchases to get me up to 2000 point games, and some more flexibility of choices. I'm looking forward to trying out some more dinosaurs in the near future...

This was the experience I was after for a while with Conquest; a series of competitive games to solidify my understanding of rules and mechanics, and get a feel for the tactical depth and nuance in the game. Whilst I recommended events earlier, I'll reinforce it again in saying that it teaches you a lot about a game. The fact you play multiple games means you fixate less on a spot of good or bad luck and reflect more on the decisions you made across multiple matches. 

My next event is in London at Bad Moon Cafe, and I'm looking forward to even more Chanting, Blooded Towers and more! Thanks for reading.

JCR