Welcome back to my mini-series on the smaller skirmish form of Conquest: First Blood. This article is aimed at people who have already played The Last Argument of Kings (TLAOK) and want to dip their toe in First Blood (FB). Today we will be looking at the newly released Cohort boxes for First Blood. Parabellum promises this to be a ‘competitive’ 1,000 points list, ready to be played out of the box experience. How true is this statement? How will you best utilize each box? And surely, we’re wargamers – we always want more options – what are the best upgrade paths for each of the boxes? Let’s find out!
What Are Cohort Boxes?
Directly quoted from the e-shop, we have the following description: “A one player Cohort starter ready to play a Tournament out of this box – assemble your models and play this 1000 pt army for our skirmish style of play, First Blood! We also give you everything you need should you wish to play using The Last Argument of Kings rank and flank style of play.”
A lot of modern wargames are now focusing on this ready-to-play experience out of the box. ASOIAF: The Miniature Game’s largest appeal is that it can literally be played out of the box (because you don’t need to assemble its models); Infinity has also been focusing more on these ‘faction starters’ with technically enough models to play a game. However, this is the first time I have seen a wargaming company decide to put an exact amount of points on the box so that players know they meet a format points requirement.
This is a breath of fresh air for both players and retailers. When retailers tell players “all you need to play is in the box,” they’re no longer lying; the complete experience is within!
There are currently nine cohort boxes, one for each faction of Conquest, with the sole exception being the Yoroni box which is labelled as a “Single Player Starter” – possibly the reason behind this is that Yoroni can fit easily between the two systems so there’s no need for separate starters.
Each of the box contains enough models to play a 1,000 points list, bases, command cards, assembly instructions, quick start and a welcome guide.
As for the number of models themselves, it varies. There are some boxes that contains a whopping 40+ minis, while there are boxes that contains only 20+. Reasoning for this is possibly for points purposes since there are no recurring trends for this amount.
Whether they are tournament worthy or not, we will delve deeper into the contents of each box to examine how you should play them – and ultimately, what’s the best way to upgrade them. Keep in mind also that this article only covers five out of the nine boxes; the last four will be in another article!
City States Cohort Box
Contents:
First Blood Cohort [980/1000]
The City States
* Mechanist [0]:
* Clockwork Hoplites (8) [290]:
* Agema (8) [290]:
* Sacred Band (4) [170]:
* Selinoi (4) [130]:
* Thorakites (4) [100]:
A box led by the Mechanist instead of the standard Polemarch – which tells me that your character will form the basis of your support for the rest of the army. Pretty clean list only missing 20 points, which lets you buy a single (albeit cheap) relic.
The obvious synergy with Mechanist is that their mechanical toys (the clockwork hoplites) always count as coming from the strategic stack – which means they will be permanently hardened 1. They do suffer from a -1 march from that ability, however you can augment the speed with Mobility which can send those hoplites on an 8” march romp. You can also add Synchronized Formation so they can do a 8” march and then a 12” charge! Now you gotta paint them red, you have to.
Though realistically you instead want to put those two abilities on the Agema, which will perform most of your heavy lifting with their two attacks, cleave 1 and decent clash profile at 3.
The rest of the box contains support pieces for your army to function: Thorakites are cheap objective holders, sellinoi provide some amount of ranged presence and the sacred band is a versatile unit that can function in both a defensive and offensive power.
How to Play
Clockwork Hoplites should form the frontline unit backed by your Mechanist trailing behind. Agema is your counter-charger / flanker because of their unprecedented mobility from the two abilities that Mechanist has. Sacred Band is your second line regiment, best utilized against harder targets that the Agema will have difficulty against – cavalry / brute.
How to Expand
There are two routes that you can take to expand this Cohort box:
- Inquisitors
These hulking monstrosity are the perfect unit to get the buffs from mechanist. They do not have phalanx nor shield, so the debuff of losing shield or phalanx bonus does not apply to them. They have base movement of 7 already and coupled with the two buffs – they suddenly go to 10” and then they can charge 14”. Mechanist is the perfect delivery systems for them.
2. More Agema
Agema remain the strongest infantry options for City States. Having multiple blocks of them can create strong redundancy and you can split your force quite evenly. Plus you can also form a retinue unit with your character and will escort them on the battlefield better.
Old Dominion Cohort Box
First Blood OD Cohort [1100/1000]
The Old Dominion
* Strategos [0]:
* Legionnaires (9) [175]: Profane Reliquary
* Praetorian Guard (4) [130]:
* Varangian Guard (8) [310]:
* Athanatoi (4) [150]:
* Kheres (6) [215]:
* Karyatids (1) [120]:
35 models! This one is quite a steal for your money – that’s a lot of models for a ‘starter’ box. You also have more points than what you need for a list so you get options as well. Is it Christmas already? But this tells me that there is plenty of cheap infantry that are part of the Old Dominion list. Let’s break it down.
The sad thing about this Cohort box is that they are missing the strongest unit for Strategos: Kataprakhtoi. Clever, PB – giving us the appetizer but leaving out the steak. You still get a full compliment of Varangian Guard (which technically you can swap athanatoi for another unit of 4). Strategos wants their Varangian Guard – with the ability Undying Entourage making them extremely resilient thanks to their ‘6+ ward save’ every time they take a wound.
Praetorian Guard and Legionnaires form the basis of your ‘cheap objective holders’. You can even maximize the legionnaires by splitting them into two minimum sized unit so they can cap two at once. Kheres and Karyatids (which, pro tip: can be assembled to Kanephors) forms a somewhat ranged presence. Though they won’t exactly do that much damage on their own. Still, buying some time before your slow infantry reaches where they need to be is a good practice to do.
How to Play
This list is laughably simple to play and I am not even joking. Just move forward. Thanks to the combination of your no resolve and your ‘ward save’ for the Athanatoi and Varangian Guard, you can basically just walk in towards objective and then just browbeat the opponent from that point.
Each game will be a slugfest, but that’s just how Old Dominion works.
How to Expand
Kataphraktoi, please. Bring lots of them. Maybe three as a one off. Take out the Kheres and the Praetorian Guard and just bring these undead horse riders. They provide a lot of things that the list is missing: mobile threat, the ability to perform powerful counter charge and to harass missile units, and most importantly: they have a very powerful charge attack.
Yoroni Cohort Box
First Blood Yoroni Cohort Box [1040/1000]
* Kitsune Onmyoji [50]:
* Kami Ayakashi (3) [320]:
* Oni Ayakashi (2) [220]:
* Kappa Bushi (3) [280]:
* Tengu Bushi (2) [170]:
Now this is somewhat of an awkward box for a few reasons. First of all, the list exceeds the Conquest format total by 40 points and there is no easy swap in and out of model count because each Yoroni model (minimum) is around 90 points. So we can probably take out one of the bushi and then add a relic so you can achieve the 1,000 points. But, this also means that you’re getting basically an extra model – so overall it’s a win!
How to Play
The Onmyoji is an interesting character; she’s more of a support character giving buffs/debuffs to your character. The keyword is flexibility, like the battlefield role of Sui that she has. Sui means that you can grab any of the other buffs which gives incredible utility for the rest of your army. She also has a once per round ability that gives you a blank ideal to one of your guys. Essentially, taking off the mental load so that your army can activate when they want and gives the right buffs.
The rest of the list is fairly simple. Kami Ayakashi is your big brute block (then again everything in the Yoroni is a big brute block) but this one is brute-ier. With 8 wounds, Hardened 1 AND Onmyoji’s +1 defense, it can stand toe-to-toe with enemy’s heavy hitters and shrug off the damage. The humble Kappa Bushi also has drip heal at 1 wound – adding just a little bit of resilience to these gym bros.
The only sort of downside of this list is that there are no ranged pressure. You’re getting the tengu bushi instead of the ayakashi. Not that you really need the ranged game when your army is forming a block of brutes down the battlefield.
How to Expand
This list really wants a Oyabun instead of the Onmyoji for a few reasons. Kaiten makes your Ayakashi that much more resilient by negating enemy’s re roll. Mountain’s Endurance also makes them hardened (2) which is good against high cleave army. And he himself is a bruiser which can stand in the frontline.
The secondary upgrade path is by getting one of the monsters. Genya no Yokai can get any ideal which is amazing in its flexibility, and with their Tsubame Gaeshi action they basically get the equivalent of a charge-clash action. Plus the model is really badass and would make them standout in any of your games!
Sorcerer King Cohort Box
First Blood Sorcerer King Cohort [980/1000]
Sorcerer Kings
* Sorcerer [0]:
* Sardar [70]:
* Mahabharati Initiates (8) [220]:
* Ghols (8) [150]:
* Dhanur Disciples (8) [220]:
* Rajakur (8) [180]:
* Efreet Sword Dancers (1) [140]:
First Blood for Sorcerer King recently got a bit of facelift, so if you have not seen their latest version, please check them out here. Sorcerer wants Ghols, plenty more so than the other characters in Sorcerer King. While personally I would want another set of Ghols as sort of a second line unit in terms of offensive, having a variations of units are nice.
Only downside of this list is the lack of elemental brutes that can fuel Confluence. Ideally you want a second elemental so that you can generate more confluence points per turn, but I appreciate the idea of ‘going wide’ that this list is trying for.
How to Play
The obvious synergy here is taking fire Sorcerer which grants access to the powerful Blazing Sign incantation – not only dealing some damage to the target unit it also ensures that your Ghol has an increased charge range thanks to Unstoppable. Making your Ghol’s treat range of 9”.
Air Sorcerer could also be interesting here since with Children of Storm and Spray makes your Ghol attack twice – or Fulgent Sign making sure that you have an additional +3 charge range on top of that – plus if it’s empowered, they can move 7” and then charge 12”
Sardar paired up with the Rajakur will form your center. The combination of their hardened and the order Shieldwall to make them more resilient. The disciples can form a strong ranged presence from afar ensuring that the focus is elsewhere so that your Ghol can be escorted.
How to Expand
- More Elemental Brutes
Due to Confluence, the more elemental brutes in your list the more often you can cast your empowered spell. As it is right now, with Sorcerer granting 2 and Efreet granting 3 – you can only cast your empowered spells once every 3 turns, which is not great.
Simply, more Efreet here would be great. You want the melee Efreet more so than the ranged ones because of just how fast your army can move across the battlefield. You’re not exactly tied to Efreet for the fire synergy, the other elemental also works – Djinns for the air or even some of the new elemental (unfortunately as of this article, they are not out yet)
2. Monsters!
Ravanar and Bakasura are damn powerful. Roided up version of the elemental brutes that can basically one shot an opposing monster. Ravanar with Hubris granting an extra 3” against monster alongside Fiend Hunter for re-rolls making their 12 attack hits extremely accurate. And with monsters being around 20 ish wounds, they can regularly one shot the enemy monster given they are weakened beforehand. Not too mention, Confluence 2 is also pretty decent here – giving an extra fuel to your spellcaster.
Spire Cohort Box
Cohort Spires First Blood [945/1000]
* High Clone Executor [0]:
* Bound Clones (8) [155]:
* Incarnate Sentinels (1) [140]:
* Vanguard Clones (8) [260]: Ward Preceptor
* Desolation Drones (4) [140]:
* Marksman Clones (4) [120]:
* Vanguard Clone Infiltrators (4) [130]:
A little bit light in terms of points, so you have the option to load up on some amount of upgrades for your characters. But at the same time, you are getting around 30 models for your money – that in itself is a huge value!
List wise, it’s a little bit of a palate sampler for the Spires infantry. You get a little bit of everything: some nice canape in the forms of Bound Clones, charcuterie in the form of desolation and marksmen clones and a chunky piece of garlic bread in the form of Vanguard Clones. Luckily, you don’t get any Force Grown Drones – so that in itself makes this box worth it.
What I’m trying to say is that this list is missing some meaty pieces. The thick piece of T-bone steak that will complete your meal. One Incarnate Sentinel is good, but you really want two. That delightful dessert in the form of Mimetic Assassin is also missing.
How to Play
Vanguard Clones alongside the High Clone Executor makes for a nasty combo. I would highly recommend taking out four of these guys from your unit and forming a retinue so you take advantage of the One Mind ability so that they ‘copy’ the stats of the Executor. You want to keep the vanguard clones a little bit back because they will form the bulk of your DPS – while being very squishy themselves.
Now to take the brunt of the enemy attack you got your Bound Clones who will happily die for your cause. Incarnate Sentinels are also good at holding down a cavalry or brute unit since they cannot take damage from Impact attacks.
Desolation and marksmen clones forms a simple ranged base for attacks, but they kind of feel lackluster since the amount of dice is somewhat low.
How to Upgrade
- Mimetic Assassin
The humble assassin is by far the strongest model that Spires have access to. It does everything: pressures the opponent by forming an area denial, as a cruise missile to assassinate opponent’s strongest models. Do your tax returns – do Spires even pay taxes?
2. More Marksmen Clones
The thing with ranged combat in First Blood is that it either does something huge or it’s very anemic. So my recommendation is that you either build a list that’s focused on playing the ranged game or you simply bring more resilient bodies on the battlefield. A list with 8-10 marksmen clones will provide you with plenty of volley shots as the opponent is setting up.
Final Thoughts
In short, these boxes are worth it simply due to the amount of plastic models that you get. While they can technically form decent 1,000 points list army, the experience that you will get from these boxes are going to be fairly similar. A block of resilient units, a unit of attackers or two, some amount of ranged support and a character that synergizes with the rest of the list.
Until next time for part 2!
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