Conquest is a super fun game with a bunch of cool factions; this week, we’ll take a look at how to play The Old Dominion Faction!
Moving in a different direction, let’s look at the undead faction of the game with The Old Dominion. Let’s continue our chug through the Conquest armies as we have already covered the Nords and City States factions that come in the new Two Player Starter box, that being The Old Dominion.
Old Dominion One Player Starter Set:
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Dominate Your Enemies in Conquest: How to Play The Old Dominion Faction!
Their army-wide ability is to gain a power token every turn that their warlord is on the battlefield, and it can be put either in the Dark Power Pool or towards the Fallen Pantheon Empowerment Pool. With that in mind, let’s start with the characters and move on to the other units!
Characters:
Archimandrite: 100 Points Infantry Medium. Mainstay Units: Kheres and Legionnaires. Restricted Units: Bone Golems, Moroi, and Praetorian Guard. March 5, Volley 0, Clash 1, 3 Attacks, 4 Wounds, No Resolve, Defense of 1, and Evasion of 2. He is Devout (Priest spells gain 1 success when cast on his stand), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and a priest 6. His spells are Hazlia’s Touch: Range 12” Target-friendly unit heals 1 +X, where X is the tier of the dark power pool.
Dark Immolation: Range 8” Target Friendly unit gains Aura of Death X. (when enemy units encounter this stand, they take X hits). Blasphemous Power: Range 12” Target-friendly unit counts as if it is under effect 1 Dark Power Tier higher than it is. If already at max, it gains flurry 2 and decay 2. Unholy Baptism: Range 12” Inflicts one hit per success on target enemy, with armor piercing 1. If your warlord, this stand may perform 2 spellcasting actions each round if they are different spells. In addition, once per battle, this stand may re-roll any number of spellcasting actions dice.
You will want to keep This good spellcasting support hero behind your lines. With a clash of 1, he will not win any duels and is really on the board to support your front-line troops. I would stick him with a block of Legionnaires and keep him away from enemy characters to avoid being challenged to duels. That way, he can just focus on healing and support magic.
Fallen Divinity: 300 Points Monster Light. Mainstay Units: Buccephaloi, Kanephors, and Karyatids. Restricted Units: None.
Tier 1: March 4, Volley 2, Clash 2, Attacks 8, Wounds 10, No Resolve, Defense 2, Evasion 3. Blessed (re-roll all failed to hit or defense rolls), Cleave 1, Hardened 1, Impact 4, Flank (automatically comes in without a reinforcement roll), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and Front of Dark Power (She absorbs all power tokens generated within 10” of her).
Tier 2: March 6, Volley 3, Clash 3, Attacks 10, Wounds 12, No Resolve, Defense 3, Evasion 2. Blessed (re-roll all failed hit or defense rolls), Cleave 2, Hardened 2, Impact 5, Flank (automatically comes in without a reinforcement roll), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and Front of Dark Power (She absorbs all power tokens generated within 10” of her), Terrifying 2, and Unstoppable (re-roll failed charge rolls).
Tier 3: March 8, Volley 4, Clash 4, Attacks 12, Wounds 15, No Resolve, Defense 4, Evasion 1. Blessed (re-roll all failed hit or defense rolls), Cleave 3, Hardened 2, Impact 5, Flank (automatically comes in without a reinforcement roll), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), Front of Dark Power (She absorbs all power tokens generated within 10” of her), Terrifying 3, Brutal Impact 3, and Tenacious (Whenever this unit makes a defense roll treat one failure as a success).
There can only ever be one Fallen Divinity in your army, and it must be your warlord, and it is considered its own regiment. It is unaffected by the Dark Power Points generated army-wide.
This is an interesting choice as it kind of determines how you build your army in that you can focus them overall or basically empower a demigod. Basically, you need to buff her up as quickly as possible to justify those 300 points, but if you do, you have quite a beat stick in your pocket that could be considered the most powerful unit in the game.
Hierodeacon: 80 Points Infantry Light. Mainstay Units: Legionnaires. Restricted Units: Buccephaloi, Kanephors, and Karyatids. March 5, Volley 0, Clash 1, Attacks 3, Wounds 4, No Resolve, Defense 1, Evasion 2. He is Devout (Priest spells gain 1 success when cast on his stand), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and a priest 5. His spells are Dark Supplication which is range self and places 1 power token in the dark power or fallen pantheons pool, and Blackflame Coruscation, which is range 12” and inflicts 1 hit plus success + the level of the empowerment tier. On his draw even he may select a friendly regiment within 12” and destroy one of its stands to generate a Dark Power Token. Finally, he may not be your warlord.
I like this character as a support hero that will help you build up those all-important dark power points. He should be casting every turn to generate at least one dark power point, and if there is a damaged stand close enough, he should be sacrificing them to generate even more power points to either your pool or to boost your fallen divinity.
Mounted Strategos: 100 Points Cavalry Medium. Mainstay Units: Athanatoi and Legionnaires. Restricted Units: Kataphraktoi and Praetorian Guard. March 7, Volley 0, Clash 3, Attacks 5, Wounds 6, No Resolve, Defense 3, Evasion 1. Brutal Impact 2 (reduces enemies’ armor by 2 on charges), Impact 2, Shield, and Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired). His warlord ability allows the army to reach tier 4, and once per game, he can make it, so the army uses one tier higher and a free reform or combat reform during their activation until the end of the round.
This is a bread-and-butter character to add into a unit of Kataphraktoi to dish out some fast-moving pain to your opponents. His warlord ability is solid and lets you play the long game of building out your units throughout the game. You can also use it whether he is on the battlefield or not, so even if his regiment goes down, you will still have access to the tier 4 empowerment pool.
Strategos: 85 Points Infantry Medium. Mainstay Units: Athanatoi and Legionnaires. Restricted Units: Kataphraktoi and Praetorian Guard. March 5, Volley 0, Clash 3, Attacks 4, Wounds 5, No Resolve, Defense 2, Evasion 1. Shield and Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired). His warlord ability allows the army to reach tier 4, and once per game, he can make it, so the army uses one tier higher and a free reform or combat reform during their activation until the end of the round.
If I had the points, I would run the Mounted version of this character every time for the bonus to impact hits and the increase in march. But if you are avoiding cavalry or don’t have the extra 15 minutes, you will want to run this guy just for his warlord ability. Pop him in a block of dudes to support your anvil, and just wait out your opponent while they grind themselves down against your army.
Xhiliarch: 90 Points Infantry Medium. Mainstay Units: Legionnaires and Praetorian Guard. Restricted Units: Athanatoi and Varangian Guard. March 5, Volley 0, Clash 3, Attacks 5, Wounds 5, No Resolve, Defense 2, Evasion 1. Cleave 1 and Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired). His warlord ability allows the army to reach tier 4, and once per game, he can make it, so the army gets an additional free clash action.
This guy is a little more punchy than the standard Stategos, and I actually like him and his warlord ability more. The cleave is always a nice added bonus, and in the thick of things allowing your regiments to get a free extra clash action can be a game-changer, especially if you have cavalry charging in this round and whatnot. It will allow you to get into combat, get those impact hits, and finish them with a clash action.
How to Play The Old Dominion Faction- Light Units:
Kheres: 160 Points Light Infantry. March 6, Volley 2, Clash 1, Attacks 4, Wounds 4, No Resolve, Defense 0, Evasion 2. Devout (One auto success from priest spells), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), Terrifying 1, Priest X where X is the number of stands, and Loose Formation (When an enemy uses volley against this regiment halves the X value in a barrage, in addition, spells only inflict half their number of hits).
Spell Drain Will: Range 12, If there are 2-4 successes, reduce the enemy stands defense by 1; if there are 4 successes, the regiment also suffers an additional hit from the aura of death. Spell Insanity: Range 10” Inflict 2 hits per success on an enemy unit, unit rolls defense rolls using their lowest unmodified resolve characteristic instead of defense. If Dark Power is tier 2, then wounds cause an additional wound, and at dark power tier 3, this spell also causes morale tests. Memories of Old: These stands get +1 Priest per stand. Character stands cannot join this regiment.
Moroi: 180 Points Infantry Light: March 6, Volley 0, Clash 2, Attacks 6, Wounds 4, No Resolve, Defense 0, Evasion 2. They have fluid formation (may perform a free reform action during its activation), Aura of Death 3, Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and 2 spells. Spell Immolation: Range Self adds Aura of Death X where X is the number of successes divided by 2 rounded up. Spell Translocation: Range Self, this regiment performs a free additional 8” March and ignores all other regiments or terrain. They can march without penalty in any direction and in and out of combat. Memories of Old: +1 priest per stand and cleave 1.
These are exciting units in that they are not as good until you activate the memories of old abilities on them, which allows them to basically go wherever you want and gain cleave. This makes them perfect for flanking or even attacking the rear of your opponent, but with only 4 wounds per stand, having them stay alive long enough to take advantage is a tough one.
How to Play The Old Dominion Faction- Medium Units:
Legionnaires: 120 Points Infantry Medium. March 5, Volly 0, Clash 2, Attacks 4, Wounds 4, No Resolve, Defense 1, Evasion 1. They have a shield (+1 Defense to the front arc), support 2 (back lines add 2 attacks instead of 1), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and are terrifying 1. This unit has a leader for the +1 attack. Memories of Old is phalanx (which adds an additional Defense against hits in the front arc, and their charge distance is always March + 3).
They can take an Icon Bear (10 Points) when this stand is removed, gain a power token, a standard bearer (10 points) which adds +1 inch to double marches, a profane reliquary (25 points), gives the regiment Aura of Death 2, a Dark Cenotaph (25 Points) which makes them count as double for seizing objectives, Acolyte (20 Points) which always makes them in range of any non-self spell cast by a friendly priest, and Optio (15 Points) which grants the regiment vanguard (gets a free march when it enters the battlefield).
These guys are pretty much made to be an anvil, especially if you take 6 of them and deck them out with all the officers you can. You can heal them up, get them in the center of the board, stack aura of death on them, and let them slowly waste away the opponents in front of them. Or you can go the reverse way and just stick an Icon bearer and nothing else to start stacking that sweet dark power.
Praetorian Guard: 160 Points Infantry Medium: March 5, Volley 0. Clash 2, Attacks 5, Wounds 5, No Resolve, Defense 2, Evasion 1. Shield (+1 Defense to the front arc), Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and Leader (+1 attack). Memories of Old is Bastion +1. They can take an Icon Bear (10 Points) when this stand is removed, gain a power token, a standard bearer (10 points) which adds +1 inch to double marches, a profane reliquary (25 points), gives the regiment Aura of Death 2, and a Dark Cenotaph (25 Points) which makes them count as double for seizing objectives.
These are the elite anvil of your army which, if you’re taking them, you want this unit to stick around, so chances are you’re adding a character and command models to it. They do have some good staying power, though, especially when you activate their memories of old ability.
Heavy Units:
Bone Golems: 210 Points Brute Heavy. March 6, Volley 0, Clash 2, Attacks 4, Wounds 6, No Resolve, Defense 3, and Evasion of 0. They have cleave 2, Relentless Blows (each clash roll of 1 causes another hit), re-rolls failed charges, Hardened 1 (reduce any cleave, brutal impact, or armor piercing by 1), Aura of Death 3, Impact 2, Animate Vessel (do not take resolve tests and is terrifying 1, cannot be inspired), and its Memories of Old is Aura of Death +1.
This is a beat stick unit that is meant to rush out and punch your opponents’ medium units right in the kisser. I do worry, though, again, models with higher cleave, like other monster units, that they won’t be able to stand up to them. But with hardened 1, that blow is slightly lessened.
No Listed units: (Because no models)
- Cultists
- Profane Sepulcher
- Centaur Prodromoi
- Centaur Kerykes
That is the Old Dominion round-up; next time, we will do some list-building around this army to see how we can’t field a reasonably priced 2000-point army.
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