Conquest: Exploring The Hundred Kingdoms Regiments
Today for something a little different. We take a look at some units from the Hundred Kingdoms faction from Para-Ballum’s Conquest!
Last week we looked at the regiments that come in the starter sets that include 100 Kingdoms models. Regiments like Men-At-Arms and Crossbowmen are excellent staples of any 100 Kingdoms army, but the units found below are where you can really start to make your army unique. Other factions in Conquest have things like Brutes or Monsters that can give their armies more flair on the tabletop, but the 100 Kingdoms lack these options. Instead, a 100 Kingdoms player gets to choose from a huge variety of specialized regiments that make playing the human faction extremely flexible. Let’s take a look at some of the more specialized 100 Kingdoms regiments to see if they have what it takes to compete with the other factions Monsters and Brutes.
Longbowmen
150pts may seem expensive when compared to the 105pts of Crossbowmen, but don’t ignore this regiment just due to its increased cost. Arcing Fire with 30in range is nothing to sneeze at and can allow you to keep your Longbowmen extremely safe while still throwing out a respectable number of Volley 2 shots with Armor Piercing. A unit of Longbowmen sitting behind your Men-At-Arms getting their full compliments of shots at 15 inches can make this regiment extremely frustrating for your opponent. These archers can even get to a scary Volley 3 with an Aim action if they don’t need to use their Arcing Fire rule.
If you want to invest some extra points into your regiment of Longbowmen, take an Imperial Officer with the Murderous Volley Battlefield Drill to let your Longbowmen’s shots cause Resolve Tests while shooting an enemy within 12 inches. This little combination will take some set-up, as the Imperial Officer’s warband does not include Longbowmen, but just Seek New Escort him in the early turns of the game. By the time your opponent gets within 12 inches of the Longbowmen they will be taking 13 Arcing Volley shots that cause moral tests.
Hunter Cadre
This unit is an exciting mix of long-range threat with some serious melee potential. With Cleave 1 and Armor Piercing 1 both of their attacks will reduce their target’s Defense, and they even get to re-roll those hits against enemy Monsters. 165pts is a little steep for a unit that is Defense 1, but their Resolve of 3 and 2 Evasion should keep them relatively safe until you pounce on that enemy monster.
The Imperial Officer is the only 100 Kingdoms character who can include Hunter Cadre in their warband, but this isn’t an issue as the Hunter Cadre benefit from multiple Battlefield Drills that the Officer can take. Fire and Advance makes Hunter Cadre extremely mobile by allowing them to take a March action after taking a Volley action, or Double Time can allow your Hunter Cadre to take three March actions as they come onto the battlefield. This can get them into position to start volleying into your opponents Monsters right from that start of the battle!
Household Guard
If the Men-At-Arms are extremely durable than this is where you can find the hammer unit in the 100 Kingdoms. My article from last week mentioned an awesome combo for this unit to get to Clash 4 while re-rolling 6s to hit (100 Kingdoms Overview). Just by choosing Relentless Drill for your Army Rule you can get 19 incredibly accurate Attacks at Cleave 1 with this combo.
Gilded Legion
This unit hits extremely hard with their Cleave 1 and Support 1, but they can also be an extremely effective unit to hold an objective in the center of the table with the Seasoned Veteran and their Iron Discipline rule. Getting +1 Defense from the Bastion Draw Event the Seasoned Veteran provides puts this unit at Defense 4, and they won’t care about re-rolling successful Resolve tests from flank or rear charges with Iron Discipline.
An Imperial Officer with Tactical 2 can be placed in this regiment with the Shroud of St. Lazarus to give this unit Resolve 5 and Fearsome. It might be worth starting your Imperial Officer in a Light unit before Seeking New Escort into the Gilded Legion though. With this unit being a Heavy choice you absolutely want to benefit from the Imperial Officers Supremacy of giving +1 to Reinforcement rolls.
Imperial Ranger Corps
If 165pts is too steep for your taste in the Hunter Cadre, look no further than the Imperial Ranger Corps. 120pts for a Volley 3 Light unit with Vanguard is a bargain! Not much else to say for these guys other than they make an excellent starting unit for an Imperial Officer you may want to Seek New Escort later in the game with their cheap points cost and their being a Mainstay option.
Court Squires
A lot of the units in this article have focused on the Imperial Officer, so I wanted to end with one that has synergies with the Noble Lord. This mainstay unit can be stacked with buffs to make them one of the most powerful units in the 100 Kingdoms. This build will cost you a ton of points, but for what you are getting I think it just might be worth it!
By putting a Noble Lord with Tactical 2 and the Bastion Battlefield Drill in this unit you get a Defense 5 (from the front with their Shield) Resolve 3 unit that ignores one of their failed defense rolls. The unit is no slouch in combat either with a Court Palatine making the unit always Inspired. The Noble Lord can also buff their combat potential more with Arms Master and his Supremacy ability. This unit will cost 400 points, but it just might be worth it.
So Many Options
You may have noticed this is not even all of the unit options available to a 100 Kingdoms player. This army is so spoiled for options I haven’t even had the chance to look at units like Order Knights (I am extremely excited about their upcoming release!) or Steel Legion, but this list of regiments should get any aspiring 100 Kingdoms players out there an excellent starting point for army construction. I am sure there are more combinations I have not even noticed, or thought of, so share them below in the comments so that I can use them against my opponents.
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