Path of Conquest: Dave’s inSPIREing Blog – Part 3 “The Clone Wars”

Milestone 2 has now been and gone, and this collection of models is beginning to look like an army now. The target for this month was to achieve the following:

I’m delighted to say that not only did I manage to complete the above, but I actually went one better and did all 12 Marksmen clones and all 12 Vanguard clones. This puts me nicely ahead for the next milestone.

We are now at 800 points, which in my opinion is probably the upper limit for First Blood. Here is a brief rundown of the units we’ve added in this Milestone:

Biomancer

This character brings yet more healing to the force with his Biotic Renewal draw event. When combined with the Pheromancers Accelerated Hibernation I fully expect to be able to reliably replenish casualties I suffer. He is poor in combat, so will need to be protected from enemy combat troops and characters.

Mimetic Assassin

This character is incredibly good in First Blood. Characters are normally quite vulnerable as they are not protected in a regiment (like in Last Argument). The Assassin however has an Evade stat of 3, which we are boosting by +2 with the Heightened Reflexes mutation, meaning that ANY wound he takes from Clash, duelling, direct damage magic or shooting will be saved on a 5 or less. Cleave is irrelevant to him! He’ll just dodge the massive axes! He has a decent number of attacks as well and will go first in duels thanks to his quicksilver strike special rule. His only slight weakness is a lack of Cleave, but he’ll certainly pull his weight in combat

Vanguard Clones

These are elite close combat troops. Each Clone has 2 attacks and a decent defence score, backed by evade 2 as well. Much like the assassin, they lack cleave, but sheer weight of attacks will tell against most enemy regiments. They’re also quite fast with a movement of 6 so can really to where they are needed.

Marksmen Clones

These are elite ranged troops. They have everything you need to smash enemies at a distance with lots of shots, a long range and the wonder arcing fire special rule, letting them use a friendly regiment to draw line of sight. They are only lightly armoured so careful positioning is needed to keep them alive, though the healing abilities of the Pheromancer and Biomancer will keep them combat effective.

We now begin Milestone 3, and this is going to be an interesting month as we convert the above First Blood Skirmish force into a 1250 point Last Argument of Kings force.

The obvious things changing will be the size of the regiments. Infantry, cavalry and Brute regiments all need to have a minimum of 3 stands of troops (a stand is 4 infantry models, or a single Brute/Cavalry model). Right now, all of the units apart from the Abomination are under this minimum threshold, so we need to bulk out what is already there. We will expand both Clone regiments to the minimum of 3 stands. We will also need to increase the Force Grown Drone numbers to make up for their below average individual stats, so I’m going to take all three of the drone regiments up to 4 stands worth of miniatures with 16 drones in each unit.

By the end of the next milestone (11th August if I stay on target!) The army will look like this:

This means that I need to add the following to the force: 6 x Marksmen Clones, 6 x Vanguard clones & 21 Force Grown Drones which should be perfectly achievable in a month.

This will give me 3 regiments of drones, each with a character embedded in them, and each fulfilling a different battlefield role. The assassins regiment is tasked with spreading decay into enemy regiments, whilst the biomancers regiment is simply a pool of wounds to be spread around the other regiments with the harvest essence ability. The Pheromancers regiment is purely there to keep him alive and healing.

The damage dealers will be the Abomination and the two Clone regiments. They are proper elite units that can go head to head with almost anything else in the game.

Stay tuned to see if I manage to get the next batch painted up!!!

Path of Conquest: Dave’s inSPIREing Blog – Part 2 “The Force (grown drones) Awakens”

We are now officially one month into the latest Path of Conquest Marathon. Paint has been spilled! Brushes have been brandished, and clippers have done their brutal snippy work!

The original plan was to have the following completed:

Did we complete it? Well mostly, actually. The Executor, the Drones and the Abomination are all done. The Pheromancer got half done before I had a typical fit of Dave madness and decided I wanted to convert the model. To make up for it I did paint more Drones than I needed to and I have pretty much assembled the whole 2000 point army.

+++++

This is a pretty nice 400 point First Blood List. Let’s go into a bit of detail with the units and how they’ll be used in the skirmish system.

High Clone Executor

This chap has zero upgrades in the initial list, but that is ok as he is pretty decent in combat anyway with Cleave 1 and 5 attacks. He can dish the pain but he cannot really take it, with only a defence of 2 to keep enemy attacks at bay. He’ll be best hitting already engaged enemies where they can’t surround him and beat him up with superior numbers.

Force Grown Drones

In first Blood they are quite simply a meat wall that will not die. You can’t buff them as easily, especially at low points games, but they are incredibly useful to pin enemy regiments in place. Because the maximum regiment size is capped at 12, it is rare that an enemy will be able to take out all the Drones in one go unless they gang up with multiple regiments. This means that they can keep receiving healing from the Pheromancer to keep going. It is terribly frustrating to play against!

Pheromancer

This chap will be the engine room of my small Spires Force. He’ll keep the drones fighting with his Accelerated Hibernation Pheromancy ability. He is to avoid combat at all costs and to simply keep the other units topped up with wounds.

Abomination

Yes, I’m bringing a Monster to the table at 400 points. No I do not care! First Blood is where monsters shine! They have less to fear with smaller enemy regiment sizes and can quite easily swipe most enemy units and characters off the board in a single charge. The only way I’ve ever successfully dealt with it, was with a combination of a mage using firedart and her own barrage, plus 12 imperial rangers. It took so much firepower to bring it down!

It is safer in combat, but its very effectiveness is its weakness. In First Blood, you cannot shoot into combat, so ideally you want to dive in, ravage an enemy and leave a few models engaged. With 10 attacks, Cleave 1 and flurry, plus impact attacks, this awesome unit will leave little left standing at the end of its activation which leaves it vulnerable to take all the enemy ranged firepower.

+++++

Milestone 2 begins immediately and I am expanding the force listed above to the following:

I will be adding in 6 Marksman clones to the Executors Warband for some ranged punch, and will add a Mimetic Assassin and a group of 6 Vanguard Clones for some elite close combat power. Finally I will bring on another support character in the form of a Biomancer, and he will deploy yet more Force Grown drones to add another pinning block to the force. With 2 characters and 3 regiments to do this month, I’d better deploy the blue paint and get cracking! Oh, and I’ll finally finish that Pheromancer.

Audun54’s Dweghom Part 2

Dweghom Milestone 1 full shot
Dweghom Milestone 1 full shot

Milestone 1 is complete and I met my goal. It took a bit to fully nail the colorscheme I wanted aside from the given of using Turbo Dork’s Let Them Eat Cake and Sweet Dreams. Knew that I wanted to do something different from my more grounded Hundred Kingdoms scheme and decided to go with blue fire and orange cloth to accompany the purple. Decided to also prepare for the future milestones by making sure everything was primed and some of the future units at least basecoated. Didn’t get as far on that goal as intended due to a combination of increased ability to demo in person and the beginning of 1.5 playtesting.

Regardless I was able to successfully complete 1 Inferno Automata, the Hold Raegh, the Tempered Sorcerer, 6 Hold Warriors, and 6 Hold Ballistae. Also thanks to Walter’s Workshop’s speed painting challenge I also painted the Tempered Steelshaper. One challenge I decided to take on for this army while painting is to make sure that there are a variety of beard colors and some variation in skin tone. The latter will be more evident as I get more painted since this time was more about figuring out the general recipe for the army. I am predominantly using Scale Color and Turbo Dork paints for this.

For the weapons I decided to go with Scale’s Necro Gold highlighted with Victorian Brass and Heavy Metal for the blades and the hafts/ballistae are Turbo Dork’s Six Shooter highlighted with Scale’s Heavy Metal. That steel recipe is also what I did for some details like the designs on the shoulder pads. Was originally going to go for a gunmetal but found that when the armor shifted that the shift color made the gunmetal very hard to see. For the clothes I used Indian Shadow followed with layer of Kalahari Orange. After that I did some stippling with Tenere Yellow followed by a wash of GW’s Casandora Yellow. The skin in this milestone was primarily Indian Shadow followed highlights in Arabic Shadow and Pink Flesh.

I am particularly happy with how the fire on the automata and sorcerer turned out. That is all Turbo Dork paint, about five layers of Ice to Never followed by Da Ba Dee on the edges and Pearly Gates in the crevices. Ice to Never is supposed to be a colorshift but it’s not too noticeable with mine since I think that bottle was part of a dodgy batch but it’s still a lovely shade of blue that looks nice and ethereal.

Decided also to try a more traditional method for basing. Wanted to have it look like they are taking the field after a light snow has fallen. So I based with a mixture of unpainted sand, grit, and green meadow flock. Then I glued some flower tufts from Huge Miniatures on the characters and those will make an appearance later as well. Once that all set I dabbed some modpodge on to the ground for sealing and lightly on the flowers then dusted them with some old Citadel snow flock I had laying around. Really happy with how it looks and think it provides a nice complement to the overall paint scheme.

Anyways now it’s on to Milestone 2 where I’ll be painting two more Inferno Automata, six Hold Ballistae, and 18 Hold Warriors since I want to have both a well rounded First Blood force and a small Last Argument warband.

Path of Conquest 2: This Time It’s Personal

So here we are again, the second Path of Conquest. For those who have recently joined the community, this may mean nothing. Path of Conquest was an event for four gamers from OnTabletop to build an army each. Para Bellum did their official one, and another group of Vanguards did an unofficial one. Both were very interesting and it was great to follow along with other gamers and see what people could make of their armies. At the time the only four factions were the Hundred Kingdoms, the Spires, the Nords and the Dweghom. Now, as I’m sure you’re aware, we have the W’adrhûn arriving. 

For this Path, I have chosen to build a 2000 point W’adrhûn army. Now, I’m not a power gamer and one of the main things I love about Conquest is the strength of themed armies. By theme I mean that the mechanics of the army fit their playstyle. For example the Hundred Kingdoms are a bunch of mortal men fighting far more powerful races, to win they must work together. By combining aspects of their combat they succeed best when their units rely on synergy. Often the careful and dogged commander of the Hundred Kingdoms forces sees his efforts rewarded.

Spires are ruthless and callous, throwing away lives to the grinding gears of war. With mass-produced drones and clones making up the bulk of their forces, they have little concern for destroyed units, so long as the enemy pays a higher cost. 

Furthermore, the Dweghom, fuelled by unrelenting rage, represent their staunch nature with high defence and resolve and an elite army. Their slower but unstoppable pace truly represents the rage-filled hearts that tried to break the world – and nearly succeeded. 

Last but not least, we have the bare-skinned Nords foraying south to raid the richer lands of the Hundred Kingdoms, their varied monsters and frenzied humans portray the harsh life and frantic pace of war they wage. 

The W’adrhûn are a young, yet diverse and eclectic culture. To represent this as best as I could, and to showcase as much of the upcoming catalogue as possible, I have chosen a bit of everything to include in my army. I have three warbands, each led by a different character. Within, I have some sturdy units of Braves, Blooded, Hunters and Slingers. Later in the Path they will be joined by the Queen, the Raptor Riders and the Warbred. To begin with, my First Blood force will be centred around the Warband box, a small number of Blooded, Braves and Hunters will accompany the Predator and the Scion of Conquest respectively. Then as time goes on I will have a larger force, featuring the Raptor Riders and greater numbers of Infantry. As we arrive at the larger points threshold of the Last Argument of Kings ruleset, I hope to begin introducing the Queen and her Warbred. Finally, with minor reinforcements bringing up the totals, my W’adrhûn warhost will be ready to enter the Gate and stand with their uneasy allies against the oncoming storm of the Old Dominion.

I am immensely excited to be part of this project and I hope that you will follow along with us and enjoy the armies that we create.

For those curious about my first milestone, please see the army list posted below.

=== First Blood! ===

The W’adrhŭn – 399/400

PoC FB W’adhrûn list

Predator [85]: Select as Warlord, Death

– Hunters (4) [48] 

– Slingers (4) [52] 

Scion of Conquest [130]: Crescendo, Death

– Braves (4) [40] 

– Blooded (4) [44] 

Characters: 2

Light Regiments: 2

Medium Regiments: 2

Heavy Regiments: 0

—–

https://armybuilder.para-bellum.com/lists/2cc5d4f3-d222-4170-9ecc-c0ef82b13e2a

Mustering the troops-BTJ’s month 1

Hi, and welcome to the start of my lot of articles for Conquest Eternal’s Path to Conquest series. Basically, 6 vanguards are gonna spend the next 5 months working up to a fully painted 2000 point list of their chosen faction. I’ve chosen to build an army for the Hundred Kingdoms, because quite frankly, I just love the theme.

The way this works is months 1 & 3 we work on a new 400 point First blood list. Then months 2 & 4 we take the previous month’s list, take it up to 600 points for FB and then round it out to 800 points in The Last Argument of Kings. Then month 5 is take the 2 800 point blocks and finish out to 2000 points. Obviously, if you’re following along you set your own goals, it’s not about matching us(or exceeding us, but if that’s your goal soar high you glorious mad(wo)man!), but about getting some hobby done that you can be happy about.

So, with that being said, what does my staring list look like, hypothetical reader of mine? Kinda like this;

=== First Blood! ===

The Hundred Kingdoms – 399/600

100k

Noble Lord [80]: Select as Warlord, Arms Master

– Household Guard (8) [104]: Leader

– Household Knights (2) [110]: Leader

Theist Priest [65]: Holy Fire

– Militia (5) [40]

Characters: 2

Light Regiments: 1

Medium Regiments: 2

Heavy Regiments: 0

—–

If you’re curious about the logic behind this list, there’s no great mystery involved. It’s literally just the contents of the Hundred Kingdoms Warband box that’s available, cause it’s a good starting point for both First Blood and The Last Argument of Kings, so I wanted to take advantage of its contents as much as possible. I went pretty light on options for both the characters because Househould knights are a fair chunk of points at this level so wanted to maximise bodies. 17 minis is a decent starting point for First Blood, and it means I’ve a damn solid starting point for bulking out these units next month when we move to TLAoK.

In terms of painting, I’m thinking this is the household of a small time noble in charge of a small provincial town, and the local priest. So to tie them together as the Noble Lord’s personal troops, the units are all gonna show his heraldry of halved green and yellow, cause those are colours I just don’t use enough. For the priest, well the Theist church kinda stole purple as a colour from the Armatellum dynasty, and this priest’s gonna flaunt that fact!

So, where does this go from here? Honestly, whilst I have a vague, half-formed idea in my head, it’s a very fluid one, so I’ve decided not to have a set end-goal of a list, but decide each month what I’ll add for the next one, and almost let the army build itself, so should be fun to see how it ends up!

Path of Conquest: Dave’s inSPIREing Blog – Part 1

So here we are again. Another Path of Conquest series where you dear readers get to enjoy me slowly losing my mind painting up a 2000 point army through a series of milestones.

This time around I am amassing a Spires Army. Whenever I begin a new project I always like to pick a theme that I then shape my force around. My theme for this particular army is “MEAT WALL!”. I want to have a massive horde of Force Grown Drones led by supporting characters to keep replenishing their ranks. The full 2000 point army I have planned will look like this:

As you can see, there are a LOT of Force Grown Drones! These humble spear wielding meat-sacks will be the backbone of my force. They certainly have number on their side, but are individually weak. In my own experience, they benefit greatly by having characters attached to them to boost them, either by providing them with a boost to the number and quality of attacks they dish out or by increasing their resolve so that less of them run away (fall apart?) in combat.

The Biomancer will be the powerhouse of the list. I have shamelessly stolen this idea from Andy Sparks who used this build against me (to my absolute horror!). The Tier 3 mastery of flesh allows me to replenish the ranks of one of the frontline regiments with Essence Transfer and then activate them immediately. He then replenishes the casualties suffered by the first biomancy with his Biotic Renewal. It is really thematic and horrifying to face. His warband brings a pair of awesome Abominations for some late game rip’n’tear.

The Pheromancer is there to also heal up casualties with his Accelerated Hibernation Pheromancy ability. He also has the expensive-but-useful Pheromantic Drive which can allow a regiment to act twice, but taking decay in the process. This is really useful for Marksman clones firing double volleys at something or for really amplifying the damage that an abomination can do in a crucial turn. Worst case scenario you could even stick it on a Force Grown Drone regiment to unleash a total storm of rubbish attacks for a giggle. His warband also unlocks the wonderful Brute Drone regiment, who are fast and hard hitting with a decent number of attacks.

The Assassin will become a decay bomb with the lovely Cascading Degeneration mutation. He is also really tasty in combat anyway, doubly so with the Venom mutation. Whatever they connect with in combat will have the triple threat of a combat character, a storm of weaker drone attacks, and will receive Decay which will thing their numbers in their own activation.

My Warlord will be a High Clone Executor who will have a small bodyguard warband of Vanguard Clones (He won’t sully himself with Drones!). This regiment is incredible good in close combat, especially as i’ve upgraded them with an Assault Preceptor Commander. This grants them the Fury draw event for a massive number of attacks. The Executor also unlocks a regiment of Marksmen Clones. This ranged regiment is rightly feared for the large numbers of long ranged attacks that they can dish out. His supremacy ability is utterly brilliant (Possibly too good? In line for a nerf? Who cares! For now I’m activating 3 cards in a row on a crucial turn!). He’ll also add a nice bit of cleave to the force.  

So to summarise, The idea is to intimidate the enemy with walls of meat that simple wont die and who will engage the enemy in a war of attrition. The characters will lead the Drones, and will keep them alive and punching. The Clones, Abominations and Brute Drones will be the heavy hitters of the force that will deal with anything truly nasty.

The Path of Conquest challenge requires me to split the army into 5 milestones. Milestones 1 and 2 will initially be for the First Blood Ruleset. Then milestones 3-5 will bulk out the army to its final 2000 point total.

Milestone 1 begins with a 400 point First Blood force. Force Grown Drones are very cheap so we can afford to have a pair of fairly big units. When a Force Grown Drone regiment has 8 or more models, they get a free Pheromantic Node (which gives the benefits of a Leader and a Banner) so these chaps are hopefully going to be rather effective for their points. The force will be led by a pair of characters. A Pheromancer who is equipped with Accelerated Hibernation for healing shenanigans, and a High Clone Executor who is decent in combat, and who also brings his amazing Supremacy ability. We will round off the small force with an Abomination for a fast moving and heavy hitting punch. This gives us a bit of variety as well from a painting point of view, with two wonderful character models and a mighty monster straight away.

I’m looking forward to see how this force comes together. After painting a lot of metallic armour for my Hundred Kingdoms and Dweghom, I’m making it my personal mission to not use a single metallic colour for the Spires. The main scheme will be as follows:

  1. a bone colour for the weapons, rags and skin.  
  2. Blue/teal for the armour
  3. Purple for the Cloth and various other details

Hopefully I will be able to keep smashing out the large number models I’ll need to complete each month for such a horde army. To this end, my scheme will be fairly basic, using Games Workshop paints and shade washes. The bases will be done in my standard fashion.

Looking forward to seeing how we get on!

Path of Conquest: A Wee Start

New Beginnings

I started my Conquest experience years ago with a demo by a local friend (Audun54 actually). The only released armies at the time were 100k and the Spires, and neither really caught my attention. Fast-forward to Winter 2020, and he gives me a Nords starter he won in a giveaway. I now have a pile of unbuilt Nords models that are waiting to be assembled, with more on the way. This journey we will take together will be about finding a place for many of those models in a ready-for-battle 2k point The Last Argument of Kings army, and a couple of First Blood lists along the way. I will be sharing pictures, lessons learned, and tips as I discover them during this Path of Conquest. Below I will share my lists if you wish to build the same as I, but I encourage you to find inspiration from what I share and not directly follow step-by-step as we all conquer differently, and what works for me may not work for you.

I am including purchasing tips so you know what you need to buy for a given milestone if you follow my footsteps, so you don’t end up like me and spend your whole budget on something you don’t need right away. (Full list at the end)

First Blood

Our first (of two) First Blood forces we will build during the course of May and June are as follows at 400 and 600 points:

Milestone I

Our first force! 400 points of Nords just waiting to kill something. This will be a taster of the rest of our 2000 point force, which will expand on this foundation.

Buying Guide:
  • 1x Nords First Blood Starter OR 1x Jarl and 1x box Huskarls
  • 1x box Trolls
  • 1x box Bow Chosen (this might be on backorder so order early)
  • 1x Blooded character
The Nords – 395/400

Blooded [70]: Warlord

  • Trolls (4) [80]
  • Bow-Chosen (4) [80]

Jarl [100]: Vinda the Dancer, Dragon

  • Huscarls (4) [65]

Characters: 2
Light Regiments: 1
Medium Regiments: 2
Heavy Regiments: 0

Milestone II

Expanding on our 400 point force, we will be adding additional units to the First Blood army for a total of 600 points, plus roughly 200 points towards our final force. We will do this by painting the rest of the contents from the milestone 1 boxes.

Buying Guide:
  • 1x box Huskarls (if First Blood starter was purchased for milestone 1)
The Nords – 599/600

Blooded [70]: Warlord

  • Trolls (6) [120]
  • Bow-Chosen (6) [120]

Jarl [185]: Combat Tier 2, Combat Tier 1, Thegn, Vinda the Dancer, Dragon

  • Huscarls (8) [104]

Characters: 2
Light Regiments: 1
Medium Regiments: 2
Heavy Regiments: 0

Milestone III

Our 3rd milestone is creating another First Blood force, this time focused on our good friend the Jarl and his Huskarls. This list (and its expanded form) will take us through July and August.

Buying Guide:
  • 1x Jarl character
  • 2x boxes Huskarls
The Nords – 393/400

Jarl [185]: Warlord, Thegn, Combat Tier 2, Combat Tier 1, Vinda the Dancer, Dragon

  • Huscarls (8) [104]
  • Huscarls (8) [104]

Characters: 1
Light Regiments: 0
Medium Regiments: 2
Heavy Regiments: 0

Milestone IV

With milestone number 4 we add and redistribute Huskarls and add another Jarl. Again, we will round out the extra 200 points with models from milestone 3. This would also be a good time to buy and work on one of the additional Trolls boxes for the 2000 point list.

Buying Guide:
  • Nothing! (We reuse the Jarl from our previous First Blood force)
The Nords – 595/600

Jarl [185]: Warlord, Thegn, Combat Tier 2, Combat Tier 1, Vinda the Dancer, Dragon

  • Huscarls (7) [91]: Leader
  • Huscarls (7) [91]: Leader

Jarl [150]: Combat Tier 3, Combat Tier 2, Combat Tier 1, Rjóða the Red Bringer, Dragon

  • Huscarls (6) [78]: Leader

Characters: 2
Light Regiments: 0
Medium Regiments: 3
Heavy Regiments: 0

Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings

Milestone V

With milestone 5 we are rounding out our remaining forces. To be frank 3 boxes is a lot for one 400 point sprint, so I would advise getting a box or two during the lighter milestones 2 and/or 4 to keep things rounded out more evenly.

Buying Guide:
  • 2x boxes Trolls (if you have not purchased extra along the way)
  • 1x box Huskarls (only if you did not purchase the First Blood Starter)
Nords – 2000/2000

Blooded [95]: Warlord, Wolf, Combat Tier 2, Combat Tier 1

  • Trolls (5) [430]: Leader, Standard Bearer
  • Bow-Chosen (3) [250]: Leader
  • Trolls (4) [350]: Leader, Standard Bearer

Jarl [155]: Dragon, Combat Tier 3, Combat Tier 2, Combat Tier 1, Vinda the Dancer

  • Huscarls (5) [295]: Leader, Standard Bearer, Thegn

Jarl [130]: Dragon, Combat Tier 3, Combat Tier 2, Combat Tier 1, Rjóða the Red Bringer

  • Huscarls (5) [295]: Leader, Standard Bearer, Thegn

Characters: 3
Light Regiments: 1
Medium Regiments: 4
Heavy Regiments: 0

Summary

There we have it, the plan for our zero to hero 2000 point Nords Path of Conquest.

Total Buying Guide:

  • 1x box Nords First Blood Starter OR 1x Jarl and 1x box Huskarls
  • 3x boxes Huskarls
  • 3x boxes Trolls
  • 1x box Bow Chosen
  • 1x Blooded character
  • 1x Jarl character

You can find me on the official Para Bellum discord as Karnthis, feel free to reach out with questions!

Path of Conquest: Audun54’s Dweghom

Raegh Theurodhin of Ghleulgas from Para Bellum Wargames

Hello there! I’m normally a Hundred Kingdoms player but I’ve been feeling an inexplicable draw towards painting beards and testing out some unconventional colorschemes. Therefore it was clear that my area needed a fully painted Dweghom army stomping around and setting the field ablaze! By the end of this event I plan to bring the below force to bear:

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===

Dweghom – 2000/2000

Grel’Hof

Hold Raegh [80]

– Dragonslayers (3) [255]: Standard Bearer

– Hold Thanes (5) [320]: Standard Bearer

Tempered Sorcerer [95]: Fireball

– Hold Ballistae (3) [150]

– Inferno Automata (3) [200]

– Hellbringer Drake (1) [180]

– Hold Warriors (5) [220]: Standard Bearer

Tempered Steelshaper [125]: Select as Warlord, Potent Scryer, Unmake Armour

– Fireforged (3) [235]: Flamecaster

– Hold Warriors (3) [140]: Standard Bearer

Characters: 3

Light Regiments: 2

Medium Regiments: 4

Heavy Regiments: 2

As can be seen this will be a Dweghom force very firmly along the Tempered path with a focus on close quarters firepower and brawling. Moreover these are all models I’ve been really looking forward to painting. My colorscheme, at this time at least, will center around Turbo Dork’s Let Them Eat Cake and Sweet Dreams paints. Both of these are a very nice colorshifting purple/blue color.

For Milestone 1 however I’ll be starting a bit smaller and having the Dweghom of Grel’hof start with sending scouting parties to the surface. This will be a First Blood force of 400 points:

=== First Blood! ===

The Dweghom – 398/400

Grel’Hof

Hold Raegh [100]: Select as Warlord, Perfectly Balanced

– Hold Warriors (6) [60]: Leader

Tempered Sorcerer [95]: Fireball

– Hold Ballistae (6) [78]: Leader

– Inferno Automata (1) [65]

Characters: 2

Light Regiments: 2

Medium Regiments: 1

Heavy Regiments: 0

The idea is that the Tempered Sorcerer is bringing a scouting detachment to the surface so his warband is focused around light units. The Automata will take point and engage enemy skirmishers while the Hold Ballistae and Sorcerer provide support. Meanwhile the Raegh will lead a detachment of Hold Warriors to provide support and deal with any surface dwellers foolish enough to stand against the firstborn of War. This force provides a really good foundation to Dweghom since it is based around units that will form the core of really any army and can easily be made Ardent themed by swapping out the Raegh or Sorcerer for a Kerawegh.

For Milestone 2 the scouting detachment will receive more reinforcements with extra Hold Warriors and Inferno Automata. They’ll also be joined by the devastating Dragonslayers to take care of any heavy armor. These may be overkill for First Blood but come on, they have halberds. How can anyone resist Dweghom in plate with halberds?

=== First Blood! ===

The Dweghom – 598/600

Grel’hof

Hold Raegh [80]: Warlord

– Hold Warriors (12) [120]: Standard Bearer, Leader

– Dragonslayers (5) [95]

Tempered Sorcerer [95]: Fireball

– Inferno Automata (2) [130]

– Hold Ballistae (6) [78]: Leader

Characters: 2

Light Regiments: 2

Medium Regiments: 1

Heavy Regiments: 1

Milestone 2 will also be when the our First Blood forces begin to coalesce into the more conventional forces seen in the Last Argument of Kings. So as part of this we flesh out the First Blood forces into their proper sized regiments.

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===

Dweghom – 800/800
Grel’hof

Hold Raegh [80]: Select as Warlord

– Hold Warriors (6) [260]: Standard Bearer

Tempered Sorcerer [95]: Fireball

– Hold Ballistae (3) [165]: Leader

– Inferno Automata (3) [200]

Characters: 2
Light Regiments: 2
Medium Regiments: 1

Then in Milestone 3 we more properly move from the skirmishes of First Blood to the clash of armies in the Last Argument of Kings!

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===

Dweghom – 1195/1200

Grel’hof

Hold Raegh [80]: Select as Warlord

– Dragonslayers (3) [255]: Standard Bearer

– Hold Warriors (4) [180]: Standard Bearer

Tempered Sorcerer [95]: Fireball

– Hold Ballistae (3) [150]

– Inferno Automata (3) [200]

– Fireforged (3) [235]: Flamecaster

Characters: 2

Light Regiments: 2

Medium Regiments: 2

Heavy Regiments: 1

The army gets some reinforcements as the First Blood regiments get increased to battle strength and beyond. This creates a flexible and fast moving force with a decent threat range. It will certainly be outnumbered consistently but that is the Dweghom way from what I understand. Continuing the theme from the First Blood forces, this Dweghom hold very much venerates the close quarter aspect of war. In my mind this is a hold that has spent a very long time fighting underground and that tradition has shaped their general tactics.

Milestone 4 brings us to 1600 points and the force is now pretty solid.

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===

Dweghom – 1595/1600

Grel’hof

Hold Raegh [100]: Select as Warlord, Perfectly Balanced

– Dragonslayers (3) [255]: Standard Bearer

– Hold Thanes (3) [200]: Standard Bearer

– Hold Warriors (3) [140]: Standard Bearer

Tempered Sorcerer [95]: Fireball

– Hold Ballistae (3) [150]

– Inferno Automata (3) [200]

– Hold Warriors (5) [220]: Standard Bearer

– Fireforged (3) [235]: Flamecaster

Characters: 2

Light Regiments: 2

Medium Regiments: 3

Heavy Regiments: 2

—–

We can now see almost all the elements of the full 2000 point army here with the Raegh’s new bodyguard of Thanes to hold the line. And now even more Hold Warriors! Because what is a battleline without a solid shieldwall. But where is the Steelshaper in all of this?

He’s showing back up in Milestone 5 with the Hellbringer Drake! I figure it would be best to finish the Path with the big centerpiece of the army and even more Thanes. With these additions I feel I will have a very solid army focused around a few large durable regiments. Quite a few people like to have their characters do the heavy lifting but I’ve always been a fan of having more bodies on the field. For one thing that gives me more to paint which is why anyone is reading this.

Thanks for coming along and I can’t wait to see how this army comes out and to see what everyone else comes up with!