The End of Warhammer 40,000 Conquest

Well the 9^th September 2016 will be remembered for a long time I feel, Fantasy Flight Games, the producers of Warhammer 40,000 Conquest: The Living Card Game announced that they were ending their relationship with Games Workshop. This simply means that Fantasy Flight Games will no longer be producing games or products relating to any Games Workshop material such as Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000. This article concluded that once all currently announced products have been released that there will be no more new products announced or released.

To bring it back into focus, this means that once the Deathworld Cycle is completed, there will be no more Warhammer 40,000 Conquest releases and after the World Championship event there will be no more tournament kits released either.

When I first read the press release from Fantasy Flight, I was almost baron of emotions and it took a good couple of hours to sink in that this game was going to be over soon. I started to get a little upset; I have experienced the end of games before; WWE Raw Deal and Vs System (the original version). I know the feeling our pouring yourself into a game, then watching helplessly as it suddenly disappears, for it to become an all encompassing part of your life and to suddenly end. It’s rather anti-climatic in all honesty and all a little silly, truth be told.

When Raw Deal stopped production it wasn’t that big of a deal, the game had all but ended anyway and with the rebrand into Raw Deal Revolution, the games attempt to stay alive was nothing more than a fools errand and everyone knew it. Vs System was another game that by the time the game actually ended I had not been fully involved in a while. Following Upper Deck Entertainment dropping the license with DC Comics, the Vs System became solely a Marvel franchise and that caused it to lose its appeal to me.

Warhammer 40,000 Conquest has been a major part of my life since it was released, I hounded all my mates until pretty much all of them bought into it and it has been almost an addiction since then. I sit at work on my breaks and lunches reading about conquest. I sit during evenings messing about with my decks trying to improve on them or come up with some new ideas and then try to play as often as possible. What will happen when this game is finally done and there are no more ideas, no new concepts? I have no idea.

Looking towards the future there are options of course, we have already existing card games to maybe buy into, such as Magic: The Gathering or a blast from the past in Yu Gi Oh. However there are new games that are potential new obsessions such as Arkham Horror: The Card Game which is due to be released in October 2016. But I guess time will tell. I don’t think anything will truly be able to replace Warhammer 40,000 Conquest as a game, I feel its mechanics are amazing and the actual source material used to add the story to the game is fantastic and out of all the games I have played in my life, this is probably the best one.

There is a wonderful world of games out there and I going to be on the lookout for new things to play. Conquest I feel has truly set the bar for card games moving forward and should I decide to buy into the Arkham Horror game it has some big shoes to fill.

I’m Big Boss..... I’m Out.... Peace!

Warhammer 40,000 Conquest LCG – Watchtower Games 27/8/2016 Summer Kit Event.

Ok I had already been to an event earlier this week and I had already won the main prize for this event so I didn’t want to turn up with anything too serious however I didn’t want to run something too soft. I had tempted fate and I built a Nahumekh deck built with an ELITE focus. I had only played one game with this deck before this event so I hadn’t really got much of a true idea of how the deck would work. It turned out not as well as I would have hoped.

The deck I took was as follows:

Total Cards: (50)

 

Warlord:

 

1x Nahumekh (Legions of Death)

 

Army Unit: (27)

4x Destroyer Cultist (Legions of Death)

3x Firedrake Terminators (The Threat Beyond)

3x Immortal Loyalist (Jungles of Nectavus)

2x Nightshade Interceptor (Legions of Death)

3x Rogue Trader (Core Set)

3x Venomous Fiend (Legions of Death)

3x Void Pirate (Core Set)

3x Warriors of Gidrim (Legions of Death)

3x Wildrider Vyper (What Lurks Below)

 

Attachment: (4)

1x The Staff of Command (Legions of Death)

3x Promotion (Core Set)

 

Event: (13)

2x Hate (Legions of Death)

3x Backlash (Legions of Death)

1x Extermination (Legions of Death)

1x Fall Back (Core Set)

3x Mechanical Enhancement (Legions of Death)

3x Reanimation Protocol (Legions of Death)

 

Support: (6)

1x Obedience (Legions of Death)

3x STC Fragment (Legions of Death)

2x Shroud Cruiser (Jungles of Nectavus)

 

As I hadn’t really played much with this deck at this point I wasn’t really aware of what I should keep and what I should change moving forward but this event was a great opportunity to do so.  We had an 8 player turnout for this event which isn’t as strong as previous events but some people simply weren’t able to get there this time. Still a strong turnout I think.

 

Round 1: Vs. Richard Watkins (Eldorath Starbane)

This game did not go as expected, Richard started really strong out of the gate and managed to win command pretty consistently during the first couple of turns, however the team of my Venomous Fiend and Nahumekh managed to clear them out and I quickly found myself with the dream team of Elite units out on the board and enough firepower to pick up the win myself. Richard is very new to the game and I still think this game could have gone either way, I think had we replayed this game it could have been different. However I managed to pick up the win this time.

Win – 1-0.

 

Round 2: Vs Joshua Johnson (Ku’Gath Plaguefather)

Now this went badly from turn one, I never got out of the gate, I think I only managed to get 1 elite out the whole game and I didn’t see an STC Fragment until the second to last turn of the game. We joked as my first game with Nahumekh was against this exact same deck and it went very differently, in fact it went the opposite with Josh not really getting my leverage and me picking up the win. So a bit of payback there for Josh. J

Loss – 1-1

 

Round 3: Vs Martin Smitherman (Urien Rakarth)

Now, again, another game where I never got out of the gate, I got one elite out turn 1 and he quickly removed that with Power From Pain and I never recovered. I had no cards in my hand but never saw any of my elites until the final rounds command step. I love Urien Rakarth and I do think moving forward in an elite heavy meta he will see more play as he can quickly work around those elite builds.

 

Loss – 1-2

 

 

Sadly not good enough to get into the top 4 cut with this result. However I did already have the prizes so I guess it was more for testing out the deck. I have already made some massive changes to the deck so moving forward I am hoping to have a bit more success. Was a good day though and I enjoyed the games I had, I really enjoyed the games I had after the event too and they were a bit of a laugh.

 

Another fun event put on by Watchtower Games in Crewe and anyone interested in gaming should certainly check them out. You can follow me on Twitter @bigboss010 and Instagram @bigbosstp010. Thanks for reading.

I’m Big Boss, I’m out.... Peace.

 

 

Warhammer 40,000 UK Nationals – 12th August 2016

This is my first national tournament for Conquest; I am hoping it will not be my last either. The tournament saw 51 players enter and sadly due to this, the top cut was lowered from 16 to 8. I went with the Packmaster Kith deck that I took to the Lincoln regional event, just with a few updates in the deck and I felt that these changes really did help me get the record that I did. Noted changes to the deck were the removal of the Bloodied Reavers for 3 copies of Murder of Razorwings and the removal of Suffering for 3 copies of Thousand Cuts. I opted to go for a more card choke variant of the deck instead my original resource choke variation.

Round 1. – Vs. Swarmlord (Sorry cannot remember my opponents name)

This game started off so well for me and then a couple of really stupid mistakes cost me the whole thing. I used Archons Terror as a shield on a planet that I really didn’t need to win and the  I dropped a Warpstorm at the same planet when I should have waited for his nearly dead Synapse creature to return to HQ before playing it. My opponent had no cards in hand but enough resources to keep powering up his Termagent Horde equipped with the Ymgarl Factor to a point where I just couldn’t kill it and I opted to throw in the towel at that point. This was a real shame because had I not thrown away my Archons Terror so foolishly I probably would have won there.

Loss 0-1

Round 2. – Vs Subject Omega (Sadly I cannot remember this chaps name either)

This game went much better for me, I didn’t throw away my key events as shields in this game, I dominated the command pretty early on and a key placed Warpstorm bloodied Subject Omega himself and the Stalking Liktor Synapse creature too. My opponent had no hand and a few resources but I didn’t allow my opponent to power up his Ymgarl Factor.

Win 1-1

Round 3. Vs Epistolary Vezuel (Ben Davis)

Ben admitted after the end of this game that he made a couple of very critical mistakes during the first turn and he was never able to recover. I dominated the first two planets while hindering my opponent’s resource economy and after bloodying Vezuel on the 2^nd turn, Ben decided to call it there. A very short game and sadly Vezuel never really got going.

Win 2-1

Round 4. Vs Archon Salaine Morn (Shirin Hassan)

The Dark Eldar mirror matchis horrific at best and I think the fact that we both played Archons Palace as our opening moves didn’t help matters either. This match went to the very last planet and sadly ended in my 2^nd loss of the day. Was a very hard match though, I had pretty much choked her of cards but sadly she choked me or resources and due to having no resources I ended up on the losing side.

Loss 2-2

Round 5. Vs Talyesin Fharenal (Mark Challenger)

Another game where the card choke worked to perfection, I managed to win most of the command struggles and I stopped him from drawing cards where I could. The double team of Syren Zythlax and Solarite Avetys works really well. I managed to pretty much sweep all the planets until I won my victory condition planet, I think it was turn 4. My opponent was really cool though and I was good to play against another warlord that only saw 1 entrant in the event, the other being Swarmlord.

Won 3-2

Round 6. Vs Nazdreg ( Dan Mossman)

This game really surprised me, as soon as I saw Nazdreg across from me I figured that 3-3 was a respectable record and boy was I shocked when my opponent played 2 units on his first turn. I managed to pick up a lot of command and also win the first planet. The next turn looked a lot tighter for me as my opponent had 2 big hitting elite units (Venemous Fiend) out and they all but cleared planet 1 when they arrived. However a well timed Archons Terror managed to really help and I managed to go for a 3 planet sweep to pick up the win. I never really saw any choke in this game especially with it being so short a game and him only having 2 army units out. This again was another game that was really fun as my opponent was another cool guy. I was just hoping this win would take me into the top 16.

Won 4-2

Sadly I placed 17 / 51 in this event, a tad heartbreaking in the same manner I feel as the guy who came 9^th, just missing the top cut and I do feel I could have done better had I not made the critical errors in the very first game. However it was a pleasant day and I met some pretty cool people.

A few local events coming up and I am gonna move away from Kith for a while as I feel like I have reached a peak with her. Got my eyes on a couple of different builds moving forward and very excited to try them out.

Thanks for reading. I’m Big Boss.... I’m Out.... Peace.

 

Warhammer 40,000 Conquest Midland Regional Championship 18th June 2016.

What a day, was really chuffed to see a 36 player turnout, and to have the current world champion be there was a little exciting also. After a lot of soul searching I decided to run the dreaded Packmaster Kith, I have been playing Kith on and off since I started playing Conquest and despite playing Ragnar quite successfully in recent tournaments, I decided to fall back to my original love for this rather large event.

This version of my Packmaster Kith deck had only played 1 game prior to the event, I had switched out the Eldar allies for Chaos allies and I was very unsure if they would work, but after discussing it on CardGameDB and with some of my friends, I made the commitment to choose Chaos as my ally for this build.

Round 1 – Vs Paul, playing Subject Omega

This was probably the most fun I had during the tournament, we had a bit of a laugh while playing and the guy was pretty cool. The thing I probably noted from this game was that I never saw 1 Chaos card during the whole game. I think I managed to get the victory here through planets as far as I remember.

Round 1 – Win – 1-0

Round 2 – Vs. Darren, playing Chaplin Mavros

I think this chap had used his bye to skip the first round, I had decided to not cash in my bye for this event, I figure I will save it for the next regional I plan on going to. I have had great success with Kith when playing Space Marines in previous games and so I wasn’t overly worried. I choked him of his economy, and then piled on to pick up the win and get me my 2^nd victory. Once again though, I must note that I never saw a single Chaos card during this game.

Round 2 – Win -2-0

Round 3 – Vs. Pehjmon, playing Anrakyr The Traveller
 

Ok, so I have not really played against Necrons properly yet, despite having a clue what this warlord could do, I have never actually seen what he can do and this was an intense match for me. However, I won a lot of command, stopped him gaining resources with my Archon’s Palace and then finally got to see my Chaos Allies put in some work after warpstorming his HQ to decimate his forces and with his warlord only having 1 HP left, he decided to call it GG there.

Round 3 – Win -3-0

We then had a spot of lunch, if you must know; I went to Burger King and had a Bacon Double Cheeseburger XL meal. It was lovely too. Not had BK in a few weeks. HA!

Round 4 – Vs. Sarah, playing as Ragnar Blackmane

This game did not last as long as I thought it would, I steamrolled command and never went anywhere near Ragnar with Kith. Sarah made a massive error by not activiating her Primal Howl, and once she realised her error, I think she had mentally threw in the towel and I didn’t take long before she conceded.

Round 4 – Win -4-0

Round 5 – Vs. Daniel, playing as Eldorath Starbane

Ok, so both of us are currently 4-0, I saw Starbane and thought “Well it was good while it lasted” however on my victory condition planet, my opponent decided to go to planet 2 in order to win his command and this was just silly, leaving his one major unit on planet 1 ready to be hit by a Klaviex Warleader and my Solarite finished the job. So after 5 rounds of swiss I managed to get a 5-0 record.

Round 5- Win -5-0

Top 8 game – Vs James, playing as Zarathur

Well this went pretty much as expected, I hit the command hard here and I bloodied Zarathur pretty quickly. Sadly my opponent had to get going but this did mean that I got a ticket into the semi-finals and secured me all buy the 1^st place prize.

Top 8 – Win -6-0

Semi Final Game – Stefan, playing as Archon Salaine Morn

Well, this was a boring game, I kind of knew how it would go also, I do think that Kith cannot get ahead of the economy of Morn and it showed in this game. I started out pretty strong but once Morn had her resources I was pretty much over for me and sadly I fell at this critical hurdle. But I must admit I had a great time and TBH if I had gotten into the final game I probably would have just fallen asleep, as I was really exhausted at this point and was ready for home.

Semi Final – Loss – 6-1

I would like to note that we were given additional prizes for being the best in faction, we were given some custom planet dials which were very nice and it was a bit of a shame that I had already purchased one from the same supplier prior to the event off eBay. Man down. However, still pretty stoked to get another little something for the effort I had gone to. Overall I was very happy with the whole day and I very much like my haul of goodies. All my opponents were pretty sound and it was a pleasure to compete against them.

The next stop in the road now is the regional event at Firestorm Games on the 9^th July 2016. I am not too sure who I intend on playing there but do think I will go with something a little more relaxed than Packmaster Kith.

So I will get this closed down now, thank you for reading.

I’m Big Boss...... I’m Out....... Peace!!

Watchtower Games Spring Tournament 14th May 2016

I had ages to prepare for this tournament and still felt like I didn’t put in much as effort as I should have. I only finished my deck about 5 minutes before the 1^st round. My deck list looked horrible written down, but luckily the score isn’t judged based on neatness of deck list writing. After a long drawn out process I decided that Packmaster Kith was the lady for the job, I really wanted the Shadowsun alternative card but I didn’t want to bring something too negative to play against like my previously used Ragnar Blackmane deck or my Broderick Worr deck (rather negative to play against considering how little effort went into making it) and yet I wanted to play something that could take me far if things went well. We had an 8 man turnout, so fewer than the previous tournament but we lost at least 4 local players due to other commitments and hopefully the next event will be bigger in turnout.

 

 

My deck list for today ended up as follows:

 

 

Packmaster Kith

10x Khymera Tokens

 

 

Army - 27

4x Kith’s Khymeramasters

3x Rogue Trader

3x Void Pirate

3x Klaivex Warleader

3x Warlock Destructor

3x Sllyth Mercenaries

3x Saim Han Kinsman

3x Bloodied Reavers

2x Syren Zythlax

 

 

Events 13

3x Archons Terror

2x Pact of the Haemonculi

2x Gut and pillage

3x Raid

3x Superiority

 

 

Attachments 7

1x Agonizer of Bren

3x Promotion

3x Shadow Field

 

 

Supports- 3

1x Khymera Den

2x Archons Palace

 

 

Round 1: Vs Shaun Jackson -  Swarmlord with Stalking Lictor – Win – 1-0

 

 

This was quite a scary game for me, Swarmlord can throw units out without needing resources due to his ability and I had also helped Shaun edit some cards in his deck prior to the event starting to get some more synergy. I did manage to win out on command though and managed to fend him off on planets 1 to 3 in order to pick up a win here. The 3^rd planet fight was a bit close, was half tempted to let him have it, but after umming and ahhing I decided to go for the 3^rd planet win. Luckily it paid off and I beat off the Swarmlord for a first round win.

 

 

Round 2: Vs Alistair (No idea what his last name is “SORRY”) – Captain Cato Saccarius – Win – 2-0

 

 

This was a surprise, as I knew he only had two core sets, so seeing him playing Cato was a little bit of a shock and I figured he would be using the Tyranids. This game was pretty cut and dry from round 1, I managed to win all but 1 command struggle and used Superiority to stop him winning the command that he did win. Sadly this was another case of winning on planet 3, as I rushed the next two planets to pick up the win. This game I felt was easier than the previous game, but Space Marines do have a high cost curve compared to Tyranids and this really helped me focus on the resource choke.

 

 

Round 3: Vs Robert Arrowsmith – Ragnar Blackman – Loss – 2-1

 

 

Well this game was ridiculous and probably resulted in me no longer caring when I made it to the top 4. Please do not get me wrong, I do not mean ridiculous in any way that reflects Rob’s playing but more my own and I will explain why. It was the 5^th turn of the game, I did not notice that planet 1 was Rob’s win condition and me being a dumbass went to planet 3 because I thought his win condition was planet 2 instead. He had no cards in hand and no resources left, however he had enough to fend off my assault and this resulted in a 5^th planet win for him. Stupid playing on my part and if I had sent my warlord to the first planet to I may picked up the win as I was 2 units off picking up the win.

 

 

Semi Final: Vs Ashley Simpson – Baharroth – Loss – 2-2

 

 

What game, this was a negative play experience if I had ever had one, I should have redone my starting hand as it really didn’t give me what I needed to do start off strong and win command struggles. Ash played really well and didn’t make any mistakes that I could take advantage of during this game. I had pretty much given up at this point though to be honest due to my stupid playing in the previous game and as I figured the Eldar vehicle deck would simply be too much for my swarm to handle I threw in the towel. Bit of a negative game there but think my attitude when I got to the top 4 was pretty “glass half empty” so it wasn’t even a shock when I lost. But fair play to Ash, he managed to play well and pick up a well earned 1^st place after he won his finals game.

 

 

Was an enjoyable outing, started off really well and was starting to feel the flow of the deck when tragedy struck. However it was a nice turnout and always a pleasure to play conquest anyway. The next tournament for me is the regional event in June. Still deciding who to play moving forward, I’m tempted to stick with Packmaster Kith and see what I can do to stop making stupid mistakes during play. I could maybe rebuild my Ragnar Blackmane deck and take that with me to play with instead. Time will tell, I have a first round bye anyway due to my store championship win and that will give me a chance to scout people during the first round anyway.

 

 

Thanks for reading this, I really appreciate it and if you are looking to get into any card game I would really consider Warhammer 40,000 Conquest.

 

 

I’m Big Boss and I’m out.... Peace.

Warhammer 40,000 Conquest- 4th Planet Games Store Championship – 20th March 2016

Was a very nice quiet drive to Wrexham for this event, was a very excited for the tournament as this is what I had been building towards with my Ragnar Blackmane deck, this was the final stop on my journey and I could see the potential light at the end of the tunnel, a first round bye at a regional event. There was a small turnout of 5 players, which was still pretty cool considering the TO was only expecting 2 originally and everyone seemed pretty friendly too which always helps.  

My first round game was against a chap named Matthew, who was piloting Commander Shadowsun, this was my first encounter against Shadowsun while I had been running Blackmane and Matt seemed like a sound fella. Sadly it was reminiscent of my first round game on the 19^th March 2016, the chap had little experience and I managed to pick up the victory pretty quickly. A nice way to start though!

1^st Round – Win – 1-0

For my 2^nd round I managed to get a bye, worried me a little tbh as I figured strength of schedule would end up being the determining factor for the winner (true story) and I figured this would hurt my chances of picking up 1^st place.

2^nd Round – Bye – 2-0

In my final game of the day I got paired up with Mark, who was running Cato Siccarius, I was quite confident here as I have played Cato multiple times and managed to come out ahead. It was a good game, had a few shock moments when Mark’s first move was dropping a dreadnought at planet 1. Freaked me out a little I will be honest and I worked hard to avoid it. I won this match after a warlord KO putting at 15 points on the score sheet.

3^rd Round – Win - 3-0

3 rounds of swiss later we did not need to go to a cut and after the TO painstakingly worked our strength of schedule it turned out that I had just scrapped the first place. Was a good event, everyone seemed friendly and I would happily go to another event there too.  Moving forward I am really looking forward to playing at a regional event, will be a great experience I think and a first round bye certainly helps my scores going into the event.

Thanks for reading this, if you are interested in picking up an LCG I would certainly recommend Conquest and must admit that this is one of the best card games I have ever played; trust me I have played a lot. So please support this amazing game if have any interest in Warahmmer 40K or card games in general.

I’m Big Boss.... I’m out..... Peace

 

 

Warhammer 40,000 Conquest – 19th March 2016 – Watchtower Games Tournament Report

So, I took Ragnar Blackmane, for this, the first Warhammer 40,000 Conquest tournament at Watchtower Games and my initial thoughts when I saw a 10 man turnout were pretty nerve wracking in all honesty. I was however excited at the prospect of playing some new people and even people I hadn’t played in a while so I got myself all psyched for a good day. I will make a quick point of saying that I do not remember most of the moves or rounds of these games but if any jumps to mind I will try to note them.

My first game was against a new player, James, who rocked up with Commander Starblaze. From initial plays I could tell that James had a very limited selection of cards available and even by his own admission had only played about 5 games prior to our encounter. I managed to win this game after killing his warlord; I can’t remember which turn it was and despite never facing a Tau deck with Blackmane I did feel like this wasn’t a true test for the deck.

1^st Round – Win – 1-0

The second game saw me taking on my eventual finals opponent Josh, who was piloting Zarathur and a pretty solid build at that. However I tend not to leave much to chance with this warlord because of his ability to really put a damper on my day and I recall putting this one to bed pretty early with the warlord KO to keep this momentum going.

2^nd Round – Win – 2-0

After a spot of lunch we came back for our 3^rd round which saw me take on the player I really wanted to have a game against, Dave, who was piloting Nazdreg and I wanted to play against Dave as I hadn’t managed to test Blackmane against him prior to the tournament. This game saw me pick up the win after winning battles at 3 straight planets; the last planet was a real test as nothing screams challenge like a 10HP unit with Brutal! Good game and had plenty of laughs.

3^rd Round – Win – 3-0

After 3 rounds of swiss we went to a top 4 cut, my semi-final opponent was not overly happy getting me as his opponent since he had played against my Ragnar deck 3 times prior and had never managed a win. Robert was piloting Cato Siccarius, so this match was Space Marine vs. Space Marine and resulted in a victory by planet icons. It was a tougher game than I expected but was pretty chuffed to have ousted him from the tournament prior to the finals.... Sorry Bro!

Semi Final – Win – 4-0

The finals, wow, not going to lie I was pretty chuffed at this stage and was amped for Josh who got into the finals after managing to overthrow Old One Eye in an epic battle in his semi final game. This game was a lot more involved than our first encounter during this event and had a little more back forth to it. However I managed to win the planets I needed to grab the big W and take 1^st place.

Finals – Win – 5-0

I won a playmat that I gave away to one of the other players and the usual promo bits. This tournament was more to see what interest there was in the local area and to test Ragnar out before going to a store championship with him. My Ragnar deck is now 15- 1 following this event and I am also hoping that this luck will carry on for the store championship. I hope to keep a record of that event also and maybe try a mini write up like this for that event also.

Thanks for reading this, if you are interested in picking up an LCG I would certainly recommend Conquest and must admit that this is one of the best card games I have ever played; trust me I have played a lot. So please support this amazing game if have any interest in Warahmmer 40K or card games in general.

I’m Big Boss.... I’m out..... Peace