Path of Conquest 2020 : The 100 Kingdoms - The host of the Iron Wolf

If you want to fight a Battle, you need an opponent. The Iron Wolf needs an enemy.

Since I already had two starter sets and a box of Marksmen Clones, The Spires would be perfect as the enemy.

I have to point out that the starter set is a really good offer. I bought the first one in France with a large discount for 68 € shipping included (£62) and got another directly from Para Bellum with a box of Steel Legion and a box of Marksman Clones as gifts, for 99 € (£91, shipping included). I even discovered later that there was a 10% discount code on underspire.net
If you want to start a 100 Kingdom or Spire army, that’s what you need.

I thus had enough to raise a 1400 pts Hundred Kingdoms army (if I add a miniature for the Imperial Officer, but it’s still possible to make a conversion with various parts of the minis you have in the starter set, and I didn’t include options like standard bearers that can help you to push up to 1500 pts), and a 1330 Spires army if you hire a High Clone Executor (you need him to hire the Marksmen).

Back to the Spires : I didn’t want to spend much time painting them (it’s not my main army), but I still bought a High Clone Executor since I liked the miniature. I settled for a very simple color scheme for this army, and it would be mainly painted with contrast paints and drybrush.

I have a rule: I don’t play with a miniature if it is not painted.
It’s a simple rule, but it takes some energy to always abide by it.
I’m proud to say that my son (13) has played many battles in various miniature games, but has never played with an unpainted mini.

He got interested last week in Conquest and has asked me to play. He’ll probably play the 100 kingdoms, and I already have a small campaign with the Spires in mind.

The main goal is to have a visually different army from my 100K army, but still know they fight on the same battlefield (bases). I thus decided to use more “natural” tones, like brown and bone, to make those spires visually more organic.

I’m going to spend more time on the High Clone Executor, since he is going to be the warlord of this small army. I’m also going to add a few colors and change a few things depending on the rank of the miniature, as @Ulverbite did on his Spires army.

Drones will be bland (especially the Force Grown Drones), the brutes will have a few distinctive bits (their weapons mostly) but are still drones, the Marksmen Clones will have more colors, and the characters will get more attention and shiny colors.

Thus, I tried the following color scheme:

– White primer (cheap spray, it’s a lot faster than the airbrush)
– Citadel Contrast Skeleton Horde (whole body)
– Citadel Dry Wrack White (whole body)
– Citadel Contrast Space Wolves Grey (legs and arms and a few other parts)
– Citadel Contrast Gore Grunta Fur (fabric)
– Citadel Contrast Wyldwood (handle of the spear)
– Citadel Foundation Macharus Orange (drybrush on the fabric and the handle of the spear, old citadel paint)

For the bases, I decided to use the same pattern I used with my 100K army:
– Citadel Wash Coelia GreenShade
– Citadel Dry Etherium Blue
– Base details: a few leaves and winter grass tufts, and some snow from Green Stuff World

Here is what it looks like.

I then tried to do something similar on a Brute Drone, but I wanted to have them a bite different, since they are not “simple” drones and thus worked a bit on the weapons.

Next time will probably be a step by step on the Steel Legion : I have to paint my milestone 3 (and I hope the miniatures I ordered form OTT will arrive soon since I need them to complete milestone 3).