Conquest Battle Report: TTS Tournament June 2025, Round 1, Maelstrom, Spires vs Sorcerer Kings

Conquest Eternal runs periodic international tournaments using TTS and aside from being a good time in it's own right, it's a useful way to stress test a list archetype before committing to buying, building and painting it. These tournaments - and TTS in general - are also very useful for testing new updates to the game.

This current tournament is taking place in the shadow of a rather major update that Para Bellum has released. This update featured substantive changes to a majority of the factions in the game, including a rework of Wadrhun's chant mechanic (again), removing a large number of flank sources, and what is in effect a rework of the Sorcerer Kings as a faction. Smaller scale balance changes were also endemic to this update, with my particular interest being in the changes made to Spires.

Aside from a reasonable nerf to Marksman Clones, bringing their range down to 20" from 22", Spires received buffs across the board. Much of the faction's infantry received point cost cuts, the long suffering Abomination was given a new lease on life as a medium, and the faction now no longer has to pay for banners. While it doesn't seem like Spires is going to be a consistent visitor to top tables at the most competitive events, these changes will hopefully keep the faction afloat until it gets it's full rework. At the very least, it's shaken up the list building for the faction - with there being seemingly more viable options and list archetypes.

One such list archetype that I wanted to test out in this TTS tournament is a high card count Directorate list, sporting fourteen to fifteen cards. I was also keen to try out the Abomination as a medium, with the hope being that it can effectively slot in as a fast objective taker, flank exploiter, and piece trader while not taking up the all important heavy slot. Worth mentioning as well is the synergy with Force-Grown Drones and the changed Unstable Enhancement Biomancy, which now sets a unit's volley and clash to a value of three, rather than increasing both values by one. This change allows the humble Force-Grown Drone to potentially throw out attacks hitting on four and under when buffed by UE and inspired, giving them some significant teeth. In combination with the Catabolic Node, I feel they can be an effective sacrificial front line, forcing careful engagement by the enemy from range or with defensively potent units.

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===
2k TTS Tournament [2000/2000]
The Spires
The Directorate

== (Warlord) Biomancer [140]: Master of Flesh
 - Desolation Drones (3) [150]: 
 - Force-Grown Drones (3) [110]: Catabolic Node
 - Abomination (1) [150]: 
 - Siegebreaker Behemoth (1) [210]: 

== Pheromancer [120]: Avatar Projection, Attracting Pheromones
 - Brute Drones (3) [170]: 
 - Abomination (1) [150]: 
 - Stryx (3) [120]: 
 - Force-Grown Drones (3) [110]: Catabolic Node

== High Clone Executor [120]: Marksman Variant, Suppress Pain, Disperse
 - Marksman Clones (4) [200]: 
 - Force-Grown Drones (3) [110]: Catabolic Node
 - Vanguard Clones (3) [140]:  

So, here is the list. The initial version of this ran the new Pteraphon Surveyor instead of the Siegebreaker Behemoth, two MSUs of Force-Grown Drones instead of the MSU of Vanguard Clones and Stryx, and two MSUs of Marksman Clones instead of the single four stand regiment - giving the list a total of fifteen cards. However, as the Pteraphon Surveyor at the time of the tournament's sign up was not released, it was deemed not legal for the event.

This list is rather heavy on light units with three Force-Grown Drone MSUs and a single MSU of Stryx, but I feel it's not especially limited on scoring given the Directorate specific Biomancy that allows a single light regiment to become medium. This number of lights also gives this list the ability to quickly establish itself and counter early aggression - although the limited movement abilities of Force-Grown Drones it not especially potent for partaking in early aggression.

The use of two Abominations is perhaps the most experimental part of the list, which still remains a something of a glass cannon. Ten attacks at clash two with flurry, cleave one and terrifying one gives the Abomination a decent ability to punch most things in the game, and a 10" movement value with unstoppable gives it a tremendous threat range. However, being limited to just ten wounds - even with a decent defensive stat line of defense three and resolve four - means that in turn, most things in the game with a decent ability to punch have a serious chance of putting the unit down in a single activation or two.

The rest of this list is what I feel to be the fairly standard Directorate toolbox - a Master of Flesh Biomancer warlord with strong set of outlets for Unstable Enhancement and Grant Virulence with the Marksman Clones, Vanguard Clones and Force-Grown Drones. The Abomination and Siegebreaker also make for the list's best Burnout targets. The Siegebreaker is also worth noting as not just being a major potential damage dealer, but also as being potentially the most durable thing in this list with eighteen wounds, defense and resolve values of four and the Fearless special rule.

My opponent for this game would be playing the reworked Sorcerer Kings utilizing the following list.

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===
R1 TTS List [1995/2000]
Sorcerer Kings

== (Warlord) Sorcerer [115]: Shu'laat, Court of Fire, Elemental Projection
 - Dhanur Disciples (3) [140]: 
 - Efreet Flamecasters (3) [170]: 
 - Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]: 
 - Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]: 

== Maharajah [120]: Court of Fire
 - Mahabharati Initiates (3) [160]: 
 - Rajakur (3) [120]: 
 - Mahut (1) [240]: 

== Raj [150]: Prijm Khanjar, Court of Fire, Bound to the Elements
 - Efreet Sword Dancers (5) [270]: 
 - Efreet Flamecasters (3) [170]:  

This build, while retaining the same fire court core as most pre-update Sorcerer Kings lists, features a lot of elements and set ups that have been radically altered by the update. One of the most notable is the use of a Sorcerer warlord opposed to a Maharajah warlord. My understanding is that even post-update, the Maharajah is still considered to be the most optimal warlord choice - as enabling extra rituals is simply too strong to pass up. Despite this, the Sorcerer warlord is still an interesting and powerful choice. The most obvious strength is the ability for characters to chain together multiple powerful spells in a single activation - including an attunement value four offensive spell. The ability to blast an enemy regiment twice in a single activation, apply multiple buffs, and potentially accelerate ritual point accumulation in the early turns are all powerful features.

One of the biggest winners of the update are Efreets. For no extra point cost, these units gained the Relentless Blows/Rapid Volley special rules while their court gained access to decent healing with the Fiery Dominion ritual, buffed Relentless Blows/Rapid Volley with Intrusive Thoughts and retained the ability to activate with three actions with Conflagration. The Raj and Efreet Sword Dancers brick is also worth pointing out as an artifact of this update - with scaling not present on almost all of the faction's buffing spells and Forward Force on the Raj making such a set up far more viable.

The sole inclusion in the list that is of a different court to the Court of Fire is the Mahut. While not being run with the Favored of Hornus upgrade is perhaps something that might be considered unusual, the unit is still built like a brick shithouse. Chewing through twenty wounds of defense and resolve values of three with hardened one, evasion two, dread and oblivious is a challenge before you consider that it can be buffed to be given Tenacious two against shooting attacks and Untouchable.

From a list matchup perspective, I think it's reasonable to say that my opponent's list probably has an advantage. There isn't really a fantastic target for the Siegebreaker - the Mahut's evasion value of two and Oblivious special rule makes it a sub optimal target, while versus the Efreets the Siegebreaker risks being at a significant threat range disadvantage versus triple action Efreets. The Marksman Clones are on paper a strong zoning threat for the Efreets - especially the shorter ranged Flamecasters - but the ability for the Sorcerer Kings spell casters to buff their units with Tenacious two against shooting hampers the Marksman Clones a great deal. They either have to activate early in the round before the spell casters do - often an awkward thing to try and accomplish that leaves more at risk front line units exposed - or accept dealing significantly less damage. Finally, the Efreet Flamecasters and the spell casters have the ability to quickly and efficiently tear through the chaff of the Force-Grown Drones before they connect in melee. The spell casters are especially notable here, since they can abuse the low resolve of Force-Grown Drones and Stryx.

The mission we played was Maelstrom - a fairly straight forward mission.

 

Maelstrom very much favors a declined flank approach, and will have the players scoring the majority of the points most likely in the mid game. In previous games I've played using this mission I have attempted to invest a decent amount of effort into controlling the center point for establishing an early points lead, but I think this was wrongheaded and it rarely produced a strong game state, as it left me under equipped for the more important task of securing one of the two larger zones.

 

The table that my opponent and I utilized (in between this screenshot being taken and the first round we swapped out the forests for similarly sized forests with different models due to an issue my opponent was having). The diagonal line of forests (which were played as being hindering and obscuring) provides a set of 'bunkers' for units to try and take positions in/behind, but units must venture out of them if they wish to contest the objectives. The two hills strike me as being obvious points from which longer ranged units to play from while staying well screened - although the two middle forests do give melee units an angle from which they can approach the hill.

My plan was to decline the right hand flank and attempt to delay any enemy units pushing that side with Force-Grown Drones. On the left side, I wanted to utilize Marksman Clones on the hill to control the left zone and to a lesser extent the center zones. My plan was then to utilize the Brute Drones, Vanguard Clones, an Abomination and some Force-Grown Drones all in concert to try and push the left zone and potentially further, while also screening for my Marksman Clones. For the middle zone, I wanted to rely on my Abomination and Biomancer to contest it well enough, while I utilize my second Abomination in a more responsive manner.

The end of round one. I managed to get three lights on, with the two Force-Grown Drone MSUs moving up the table with room to score either zone next round with assistance from the Biomancer. The Stryx placed themselves in the right-middle forest, hoping to serve as a delaying and harassing element on the right hand side.

The end of round two. My opponent brought on a total of five units, bringing on all of their characters and two MSUs of Flamecasters. I brought in three mediums, with my final light not arriving until next turn. In order to try and maintain parity with regards to activation count I decided to bring in all of my characters as well. I also figured that the high speed of the Abominations and vanguard on the Vanguard Clones meant those units didn't need to necessarily come on this turn.

Outside of that, this turn was mostly just positioning and posturing for later turns. Of particular note is my opponent's positioning of the Raj and Sword Dancer brick on the right flank, and the Dhanur Disciples on the far left, located in the left most forest. I had decided to keep my Stryx more or less in the same position, hoping to either get a good dive onto the Flamecasters or be able to stuff theh movement of the Raj and Sword Dancer brick. I also pushed my central Force-Grown Drones onto the middle point in order to get some early scoring with the help of my Biomancer. As will become evident, this was probably a mistake as I underestimated the strength of the Maharajah's offensive spells. My opponent was also able to complete a conflagration ritual.

 The end of the third round. The rest of the Sorcerer King's forces were able to arrive this turn, while I was able to bring on all but the last Abomination. I brought my Vanguard Clones up in front of my brutes, and the Abomination in a central position, where I figured it could either support the center or the middle, while being decently safe lingering in front of the Marksman Clones. My final regiment of Force-Grown Drones were positioned to the right of my Desolation Drones, as I figured I needed something to absorb the impact of the rapidly advanced Raj and Sword Dancer brick. I also brought on my Siegebreaker in the center, hoping to try and use it to contest the central objective zone. My opponent brought on their Mahabharati Initiates and Mahut both to play for the center of the table. They also brought in one MSU of Sword Dances on the left in front of the Dhanur, and another on the right which was positioned behind the Flamecasters.

My opponent's Maharajah managed to completely destroy my central Force-Grown Drone regiment with two chained offensive spells, and inflamed the Stryx and Desolation Drones in the process. These regiments were both guaranteed at this point to get chipped further by the Conflagration ritual, and I think had myself misplaying my Stryx by buffing them up and send them into the nearby MSU of Flamecasters. While I did break the Flamecasters, bringing them down to one stand, it wasn't an especially valuable target as I don't think it caused any real traffic jams for my opponent, nor did it force a large commitment to respond - they were simply able to heal them up later on, and have them stand on the far right objective zone. My thoughts at the time was that I had to use them or lose them, as I was afraid that in the subsequent turn they might just get blown up by further spells from the Maharajah and the combined efforts of the Mahut and Flamecasters. But engaging the Sword Dancers, slowing down their advance, could have been more valuable in the long term, while retreating the Stryx could have allowed for a more valuable play later on. I think I was too hung up on the Stryx losing too much damage output to be relevant if it was chipped away any further, but I think the reality of the situation was that the Stryx were never going to get a good material trade in their position and I should have accepted that. To clean up the Stryx, my opponent used the three actions from their Conflagration buffed Raj and Sword Dancers to charge the Stryx, kill them with impacts, reform, and march onto the right most objective zone.

I am wondering in retrospect if I could have gotten more aggressive with my Brute Drones and Force-Grown Drones on the right hand side of the table, but I think the threat of Conflagration buffed Flamecasters was too great for me to commit to anything this turn. Perhaps the Marksman Clones could have tried to play more forward to start getting some chip onto them.

 

The end of the fourth turn. My last unit - the Abomination - arrived. I decided to position it on the left most flank, as I was unsure if the material I had there would be enough to push the flank in successfully, and because I was planning on committing my other Abomination to the center of the table. I was debating utilizing the Abomination to counter the movement of the Raj and Sword Dancer brick, and while I decided against it at the moment, I think that was a mistake. I was unable to position the Force-Grown Drones on the flank in a manner that sufficiently stalled the brick. Granted, I also think in the long term my assumption that the left flank needed more material to push in was proven correct, so I think perhaps there might have been an earlier positional mistake I made that forced me to pick between two sub optimal decisions here.

I decided to step onto the left hand objective zone first with my Force-Grown Drones, hoping they would bait out attacks from the Flamecasters - which they did. I followed up by advancing my Vanguards Clones, Brute Drones and Abomination, but I think I made a mistake by not advancing further. I wanted to avoid giving the Dhanur aim-volley attacks, but they had their line of sight mostly blocked by the Sword Dancers in front of them anyway. I also wanted to avoid the potentially triple activating Sword Dancers diving onto my set up, but I think if that happened I would have been able to deal with it, as I was set up for both the Brutes Drones and Abomination to quickly counter charge.

My opponent aggressively advanced the Mahabharati Initiates to toe the central zone, and positioned the Mahut and MSU of Sword Dancers to counter charge anything that went after the Mahabharati. I figured that with the Mahut most likely body blocking the MSU of Sword Dancers, I had the potential to force the Mahut into an engagement against the Siegebreaker where it was being charged from the flank, and dove in on the Mahabharati Initiates with my Burnout buffed Abomination, breaking them. However, the Raj and Sword Dancer brick on the right flank once again triple activated off the Conflagration ritual and double marched before charging my Force-Grown Drones, destroying them completely with just the impacts, and positioning themselves to inflict devastating damage in the coming turns. I'm unsure if there is a particular mistake I made here by committing to the engagement in the middle while this attack was obviously coming. I think the fight in the middle was going to happen regardless, and this position was the result of earlier mistakes I had made.

 

The end of round five. My opponent won supremacy, chose to go first and - much to my surprise - charged my Abomination with their Mahut, and managing to deal just a few wounds to it. I was rather happy with this, as I was fully expecting my opponent to instead charge my Desolation Drones and kill my Biomancer. I decided to try and go for a weird play with my Abomination to try and get as much damage out from it as possible. I activated it using Unstable Enhancement from my Biomancer, and swung it into the Mahut for decent damage. I then targeted it with Catalytic Rupture using my second Biomancy, and high rolling seven hits to everything in contact with it. This killed the Abomination, the Mahabharati Initiates, and got eleven wounds dealt to the Mahut. I then entourage activated my Desolation drones, reformed them, and pulled them back. This forced my opponent to march charge the with the Raj and Sword Dancers - just barely not killing the unit. The Siegebreaker was then able to clean up the Mahut with a simple Burnout buffed charge and clash. My Marksman Clones reformed in order to get some chip damage dealt to the Raj and Sword Dancers, which at this point was starting to add up - although it was being offset by my opponent's use of the Fiery Dominion ritual in order to heal their forces.

On the left flank, the Flamecasters were engaged by the Force-Grown Drones after a march charge, which in retrospect was an obvious and silly error - this was relatively early in the turn before the Sorcerer activated, which easily cleaned them up with single spell. This left the Flamecasters free to move up and volley the Vanguard Clones, breaking them - although I was able to rally them afterwards. I think again I could have and should have gotten more aggressive, although at this point my Marksman Clones were no longer able to support.

 

The end of round six. I managed to win the supremacy roll, and went first. I decided to utilize my Siegebreaker (activating it with the Essence Transfer Biomancy), and dove my opponent's Maharajah and Rajakur, easily destroying the unit. I then unbroke, healed and entourage activated my Desolation Drones for a last stand, but didn't achieve much. Knowing they had a Fiery Dominion and not a Conflagration, I was hoping that with the minor bit of healing I had given to my Desolation Drones that my opponent would feel the need to inspire and clash. This would save my Marksman Clones from a charge - but I forgot to account for the Raj's ability to cast damaging spells, which cleaned up the Desolation Drones and let the brick charge and clash the Marksman Clones, easily destroying them. The Siegebreaker was cleaned up by the MSU of Sword Dancers getting a flank charge and clash onto it. I think I made a mistake in prioritizing the destruction of my opponent's Maharajah - and instead I should have utilized my Marksman Clones buffed by the Biomancer to try and deal as much damage as possible to the Raj and Sword Dancers. While that most likely wouldn't have killed the unit, the hope would have been to break it. This would have forced my opponent to utilize the Raj to unbreak the unit, clash to kill my Desolation Drones and Biomancer, and finally charge my Marksman Clones if they wanted to engage them this turn - still possible, but far more unlikely. This would have left my Siegebreaker out to dry a bit, but perhaps there is a better chance it survives a frontal charge from the MSU of Sword Dancers.

On the left flank, the Abomination dove the Sword Dancers while buffed with Burnout with mediocre results, while the Brute Drones killed the Flame Casters. I attempted to heal the rallied Vanguard Clones, but the Dhanur Disciples were able to break them again with arcing fire. At this point I had finally managed to push this flank in, but obviously it was way to late to effect the outcome of the game.

 

The end of the seventh round of the game, which was also the final round of the game which we played through. The  Brute Drones managed to get on top of the Dhanur and kill them alongside the Sorcerer, but the Abomination would die to the Sword Dancers. The Raj and Sword Dancer brick would march and charge the Vanguard Clones as well, definitively scoring all three zones for the Sorcerer Kings. At this point we agreed to end the game and calculate the final score, as I figured it would be unrealistic for my final remaining unit to be able to contest my opponent's scoring, let alone score anything more itself. The final score was twenty four to eight, in favor of the Sorcerer Kings. It's also worth noting that the Sorcerer Kings had a substantial material advantage by the end of the game.

I guess to start with the good, I feel I made some strong tactical plays during the game. I was surprised as to how well I was able to handle the Mahut and fight at the center of the table in general, and I think a large part of that was the sequence involving using Unstable Enhancement and Catalytic Rupture on the Abomination.

I think to identify the biggest mistakes I made, I think I very much failed to give the flanking brick of the Raj and Sword Dancers the respect it deserved. Most likely the Siegebreaker and/or one of my Abominations should have been deployed to counter it. I also could have better employed my Stryx to slow the advance of the unit down. I also think I was too slow with my advance and development of the left flank. I'm not entirely sure as to how I should have executed my attack on that flank however. I also feel I was probably a bit too cavalier with my Force-Grown Drones. I don't think any of my three MSUs really got sufficient value in this game, and to be completely honest I'm not entirely sure as to how I could have employed them better - aside from respecting the power of Sorcerer King spell casters a bit more. Perhaps I simply needed to play them more conservatively, as that would have left me with more material to lean on in the middle stages of the game.

In general I feel that outside of the more specific moments I've identified, there is a more systemic issue at hand that caused this game to go in the manner it did - I'm just unable to figure out what it is. Even with the matchup issues I've discussed, I think this game was eminently winnable and it was most likely a larger strategic failure on my part that had it end in the manner it did. Perhaps it's possible that I incorrectly selected the right flank to decline? If I decided to deploy with the right flank as my strong side, I could have had easier access to defensive hindering terrain to try and blunt the power of my opponent's triple activations. This also would have not harshly impacted the effectiveness of my Marksman Clones as they could have still spotted the Efreets and Mahut over my infantry. This is where I'd very much appreciate the insight of the many Conquest players who are more experienced and skilled than myself.

 Regardless, I hope you have enjoyed this battle report. I would very much appreciate any comments or feedback, be it on my play, the game or the battle report itself.