Welcome to the new Conquest list builder for The Barons’ War.

At the end of the first edition, five lists were available: Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Welsh and Irish. With the arrival of the second edition of The Barons’ War, we wanted to take the opportunity to revisit Conquest and explore more of the Early Medieval period it covers.

This was a time of raids, settlement, shifting borders, rising kingdoms and competing claims to power. Across nearly three centuries, the peoples of Britain, Ireland and northern Europe fought, traded, migrated and changed the political map. The new Conquest lists have been designed to give players more ways to represent those forces on the tabletop.

The builder contains six factions:

English (Saxon/Angles)
Scandinavia (Danes/Vikings)
Frankish Kingdoms and Duchies (Normans)
Hibernia (Ireland)
Caledonia (Scotland)
Cymru (Wales)

Five of these factions include two sets of faction traits, representing two broad periods of Scandinavian expansion and its effect upon the kingdoms of western Europe.

The first set of traits is intended for retinues from the period of the first major Viking raids and settlement, roughly 800 to 940.

For this period, each faction uses the following trait:

English: Rise of the House of Wessex
Scandinavia: The Great Heathen Army
Caledonia: One Country, Four Kingdoms
Hibernia: The Land of Saints and Rain
Cymru: The Glory of the Kingdoms

The second set is intended for retinues from the later period of Scandinavian expansion and conquest, roughly 975 to 1085.

For this period, each faction uses the following trait:

English: English Crown, Danish Blood
Scandinavia: Royal Expedition
Caledonia: Alba United, Birth of Scotland
Hibernia: High King’s Forces
Cymru: The Long Rebellion

The Frankish Kingdoms and Duchies work slightly differently, reflecting the varied history of the territories covered by the faction.

For a retinue from the first period, choose one of the following faction traits:

Carolingian
Brittany
Germany

For a retinue from the second period, choose one of the following faction traits:

Brittany
Germany
Normandy

These periods and faction traits are there to help you build a retinue with a particular historical character. They are not intended to stop you using a different trait when creating the force you want to play. Choose what suits your retinue, put it on the table and have fun with it.

The New Conquest List Builder

For the first time, all of these factions can be explored and assembled through the new Conquest list builder.

The lists are complete enough to build and play full retinues, but they remain in playtest while Conquest continues to be developed. We have reached the point where we need players to use them, test different combinations and tell us what happens on the table.

Build a retinue, try the new faction traits, explore the unit and equipment choices, and see how your force performs.

We want to hear what gives each faction its character, which units and abilities work well, where the points feel right and where the balance may need further attention. We also want to know whether there are options, troop types or pieces of history that you think we have missed.

Please tell us what you like. Tell us what needs a tweak. Most importantly, tell us what happened when you played. The good news is all feedback can be given through the list builder.

I will consider every piece of useful feedback as we shape the final Conquest lists. This is your opportunity to help us build the next stage of the game.

The new builder is ready. Choose your faction, muster your retinue and take Conquest back to the table.

Is There a Conquest Book Coming?

Yes. The intention is for Conquest to become a standalone book rather than simply a sourcebook for The Barons’ War.

That means including the full rules alongside the factions, units and period material, so players will have everything they need in one place. It will make for a fairly substantial book, but I think that is the right way to give Conquest an identity of its own while keeping it fully compatible with The Barons’ War.

To keep up to date with the development of Conquest, join the Facebook group.