Conquest: Round 1.
This week we kicked off the first round of our new Cob Homemade game; Conquest!
We started a couple of weeks ago by introducing you to the two warring families, the revolutionary House Black, and the royalist House Borgia who will be fighting out over the next weeks and months to conquer the board and topple their enemy.
Round 1 saw the two families make their first and opening gambits. We’ll remind you how the map looked before each team made their first move.
House Black started first, and they went hard! They advanced 6 blocks, that’s 600 points of troops, from The Narrows to The North Lands. 600 points was going to be a formidable army, and The North Lands were protected by a mere 3 blocks (that’s 300 points) outnumbered 2:1!
In Conquest, both armies share the same army list that they can make their forces up from. This is to add more of a tactical edge to the gameplay as well as allowing Conquest to cater to every type of player. The army list uses stats from warriors from the Lord of the Rings Rule Book, For example, armies can buy Conscripts (who use the stats of goblins), footmen (warriors of Rohan) and Knights (uruk-hai). This means players can build lists with specific tactics in mind, if you want to swamp your enemy, then you can field a suffocating mass of weak Conscripts. Want an elite hard hitting force? You can take small force of Knights, backed up by Throne Guard (slightly beefed up High Elves). But it’s not just warriors, forces can make use of Giant Creatures (who have the stats of trolls) or even field an unstoppable Leviathan (who uses the stats of the Balrog himself!)
The idea of having more generic army lists is to allow players to field the vast array of models they own, instead of being restricted to one race. We have Beastmen, Chaos and High Elf Fantasy armies that we will be making use of, and as you have already seen both of our Lord’s are AoS models! So expect to see an eclectic mix of models in our battle reports! We’ll do our best to keep you up to date with which models represent which troop type.
When we release a comprehensive rules list this will include the army list for you to peruse in more detail!
For the first battle, which was named ‘The Scouring of The North Lands’ House Black made use of a member of their War Council (a named character for their army) Captain Tormund Clegane, who led an elite army of Knights, Throne Guard and even brought a Minotaur (a Giant Creature that made use of the Ogroid model from our Silver Tower set)
The defence was led by Captain Tarnish, a member of Lord Byron Borgia’s war council. Who used his modest points total to bring a handful of Knights and a core of Footmen to try and whittle down the attackers numbers or even score an upset!
The Scouring of The Northlands Battle Report
The attacker's: Captain Tormund Clegane's Scourge of the Northlands. A solid block of Knight spearmen, elite Throne Guard, deadly Rangers and a mighty Minotaur! As well as some cannon fodder in the form of conscripts in the front.
The defenders of the Northlands were Captain's Tarnish's warband. Tarnish himself carrying a shield and sword (looking fetching as a Kairic Acolyte!) A core of Footmen with swords and shields and spears and shields. By his side a single Throne Guard and a handful of knights.
Both armies lined up on the battlefield, and although they had double the points, Captain Clegane’s army was modest at best, it barely outnumbered Captain Tarnish’s. They had brought a decent collection of Rangers however, (Rangers of Gondor) and Tarnish had no ranged capabilities at all.
Turns 1 – 3
In the opening of the battle, Tarnish arranged his men into a solid block, spearmen in the back and Footmen and Knights in the front, hoping the strong defence of the knights would allow the bulk of the force to survive the long march across the table.
Clegane got his men into defensive positions, but also created a pincer move edging troops around the flanks to envelop the mass of approaching warriors.
The Rangers were deadly, and the advancing shield wall of Captain Tarnish’s Knights suffered heavy losses in the turns they were trekking across the board!
In the first three turns they lost 4/5 Knights and 5/10 footmen with shields! Clegane had arranged his men ready to receive the charge and the fighting was about to begin…
Turns 4 – 5
The fighting began in Turn 4. Clegane sent his smattering of Conscripts into the fighting first, to tie up some troops, while his knights and elite Throne Guard doubled up on some Footmen. Tarnish moved towards the Conscripts hoping to carve a path to reach Clegane before his force was surrounded.
The Rangers were still deadly and picked off any straggling warriors that hadn’t been involved in combat, they killed two Footmen in Turn 4, but then fired into a combat and slew a friendly Conscript in Turn 5! They were proving a little too effective at killing!
The Fight Phase finally saw Clegane suffer some losses, they lost 5 Conscripts, Tarnish scoring two of those kills, as well as losing a couple of Throne Guard to some lowly Footmen who were even outnumbered!
But Clegane was quickly whittling the numbers down, his men making use of their superior numbers and fighting skill and two thirds of Tarnish’s force was gone by the end of Turn 5 and the Borgia Captain was about to make a daring move to try and swing the battle back in his favour…
Turn 6 - 8
Captain Tormund Clegane and Captain Tarnish meet on the battlefield!
In Turn 6 Captain Tarnish pulled off a charge against Clegane and the two Captains met. Tarnish sacrificed a lot of his men to hold off the enemy and keep the battle (fairly) one on one, Clegane and Tarnish both making use of spearmen to add an extra attack!
The Rangers had no clear targets, and after slaying one of their own, they were dubious about shooting into any more combats. The deadly archers put down their bows for the rest of the game, and watched the carnage unfold.
In their first duel it was Tarnish who won the fight even though it cost him all of his Might, in a critical roll he could not wound Clegane however and the battle went downhill for the Borgia’s from there.
Over the next turns, Tarnish lost a lot of men, and more and more enemies encroached on Clegane and Tarnish’s duel. Tarnish lost the fight and a wound failing his fate roll in turn 8 when his force was all but gone.
Turns 9 – 10
In Turn 9 Clegane’s pincer closed in on Tarnish and his last few remaining men. In turn 9 Tarnish was charged by the Minotaur and was subsequently slain, his short and sweet life in the world of Cob Conquest was over forever! In turn 10 the last remaining Knight faced enemies on all sides and fell, and with that Clegane’s crushing victory was secure!
In the end Clegane suffered a mere 91 points of casualties to Tarnish’s full 300 points, the Scouring of The Northlands was a humiliating defeat for House Borgia and with that The Northlands were claimed for House Black!
With House Black’s first move and battle concluded it was up to House Borgia to retaliate, and they did. They had built up a small force from Jailawi and spotted the opportunity to sweep in and take The Narrows which had just been abandoned.
House Borgia moved four blocks to The Narrows (which is 400 points) and found that it had only been left with 1 block to defend it! The resulting battle was no doubt going to be a massacre! House Borgia did not take any risks, and their small force was led by Lord Byron Borgia’s second in command, his General from his War council. Some dedicated Cob fans may notice House Borgia’s General has a name that pays homage to a certain ill-fated Chaos Lord from Mechan 44! That’s right! General Despotus Blackshield led an army of knights, footmen and even some crossbowmen up into the Narrows to claim some land for House Borgia!
Standing in his way, was a young, inexperienced Sergeant who came to be named Sergeant Robert Thornton. He and a small gathering of conscripts were mustered to lead the Narrows defence. The plight of the doomed defenders came to be known as The Ballad of Bobby Thornton!
The Ballad of Bobby Thornton battle report.
The attackers in this game were General Despotus' despoiler's! Despotus made use of the imposing Beastlord model, converted to carry a shield backed up by a solid throng of Knights supported by Footmen spearmen. They marched under his banner to claim The Narrows!
In their way were the Defender's of The Narrows! Bobby Thornton's Boys! Sergeant Bobby Thornton surrounded himself with as many conscripts as he could muster! The conscipts could not even afford to bring shields, apart from one, the Rohan Royal Guard in the front represnted the lucky conscript who was trusted to carry the one shield they had between them!
They weren't alone however, on the flanks were three Rangers who were ready to pounce.
Turn 1 - 3
General Despotus Blackshield stood at the head of his army, who lined up behind him. On the opposite side, Sergeant Bobby Thornton surrounded himself with his handful of conscripts and his three Rangers took up some shooting positions!
Despotus advanced his men, keeping them in a tight formation whilst his crossbowmen took up some shooting positions against the enemy Rangers.
Bobby Thornton and his conscripts made a dash for some ruins and took up defensive positions, hoping to defend some barriers to help make up for their lack of numbers.
House Black however was proving their proficiency with a bow! And in the first three turns House Black killed two crossbowmen, a Throne Guard and a conscript with shooting, taking no casualties in return!
Turn 4 - 5
Despotus charges into the midst of Bobby's Boys!
In turn 4 Despotus decided to have a change of tactic. He sent the majority of his force back, out of the bows reach, and instead he charged headlong into the conscript infested ruins, hoping to seek out the doomed Sergeant Thornton! He took a couple of knights with him and a lowly conscript. Despotus figured he could get the work done himself.
The plan seemed solid. That was until a Ranger spied a clear shot at Despotus’ banner bearer. The Ranger hit, and slew the knight who dropped the banner and it was lost. A huge points loss for House Borgia and once again an example of the ridiculous shooting from House Black!
In Turn 5 Despotus and Thornton got involved in the fighting. Despotus went up against a handful of Conscripts and called a Heroic combat in the hopes of slaying the weaklings before him and charging the plucky Sergeant. He won his combat easily, but could not kill the three conscripts around him, in fact, he couldn’t even kill one!
Bobby Thornton got the job done however, and in a one on one with a knight he slew the knight making use of his one and only point of Might to do so.
Turns 6 - 8
The Crossbowmen tried to pick off the rangers, but they were slow moving, and were struggling to hit, the Rangers were deadly against them, and after killing another, the crossbowmen and the rest of the Borgia army beat a hasty retreat to the very back of the board. The entire battle now hung on Despotus and a single knight fighting against 11 conscripts and a very daring Sergeant!
Thornton sent a few conscripts in against Despotus to tie him up, whilst he and the rest of the men ganged up on the knight.
Despotus won his fight easy, but again, could not wound. He used two points of Might to kill the two conscripts fighting him, ensuring a clear charge against Bobby Thornton next turn!
Thornton and his men just about beat the Knight in combat but couldn’t kill the single warrior.
It was turn 8 when the two leaders met, Despotus charged in against Thornton, who mobbed the general with as many conscripts as he could physically muster! The knight took on the remaining three conscripts whilst three knights from the back of the board moved forward to be on hand in case something went horribly awry!
Despotus won his combat however, his Fight value of 6 was always going to be hard to beat. He only managed to score one wound against Bobby Thornton however, who passed his Fate roll and would survive to go another round with the Borgia General!
Turns 9 - 10
Turn 9 saw the two leaders meet again, and again, Despotus won the fight, he slew the Sergeant and took two conscripts as well, the General had finally found some form in combat! In Conquest, forces are broken once the army leader is slain, and with Bobby Thornton slain the defenders of The Narrows were broken.
In Turn 10, most of the force fled, and those that stayed were outnumbered and slain. At this point, it is important to note that one conscript made a little name for himself. Only one of the conscripts was given a shield, and it was this shield wielding legend who covered himself in glory at the end of the game passing his courage test and charging in against three knights!
Of course, he fell in the combat phase but it was an honourable warrior’s death!
The game concludes there, and again House Borgia is left with egg on its face when the points losses are calculated at the end of the game, Bobby Thornton’s men managed to slay 101 points of Despotus’ forces to their 100 points loss! House Borgia claims The Narrows but it’s by no means a storming victory!
Both Houses had gone tit for tat, and although they had each claimed a new land from the other, House Borgia had lost a full block of 100 points doing so, giving the ever so slight edge to House Black.
Next, both forces receive a block of 100 points for each piece of land they hold. So both Houses received eight blocks to distribute amongst their lands. Of course, this part is done in secret so neither player knows which lands are well protected, building armies or vulnerable to attack.
With that Round 1 was complete and the board now looked like this going into Round 2:
This first trail game flagged up a few errors, flaws and a few things to work on.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be working on ironing out these kinks ready to play round 2 and see what House Black and House Borgia have in store! We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on Conquest’s progress and what changes we are working on!
Until then thanks for reading and as always happy wargaming Cobbers!
