Scion of Conquest - W'adrhŭn Guide (english)

When the faction was released, this was my favorite hero. I was especially drawn to the preview model at the time.

Cost:

110 points for a priest who hits like Bud Spencer seems fair. Only his Warband holds him back somewhat.

Strengths:

• Cleave 2: In melee combat, a Clash Attack reduces the enemy’s armor by 2.
• Solid Melee Profile: 5 Attacks with Cleave 1 is more or less the standard profile I expect from a melee hero. The Scion even has Cleave 2, making him quite effective.
• Resolve 4: Having Resolve 4 on a hero is always great because, at 4 Stands, the regiment benefits from the morale bonus for regiment size, bringing it up to Resolve 5.
• Cult of Conquest: All non-Chosen regiments in his Warband follow the Cult of Conquest. This is the only way, besides a Warlord, to bring the Cult of Conquest into the army.
• Chants: Generates a Chant Marker, supporting the W’adrhŭn mechanics, but cannot trigger a chant himself.
• Supremacy – Vision of Conquest: Once per game, for a single round, you may pick any card from your deck instead of drawing the top card. Additionally, during this round, all regiments and characters produce Conquest Markers. When used properly, this can be absurdly strong.

Weaknesses:

• Dueling: Although his melee profile is solid and he has 5 wounds, his Defense 2 and Resolve 4 cause him to die faster in duels than one would like. I wouldn’t recommend sending him into duels carelessly.
• Warband: Now that Chosen can be taken in other Warbands, the Scion is mainly interesting for his prayers. However, he lacks a strong synergistic element to help in this regard.
• Battlefield Role - The Cults: So far, I have not found any synergy that benefits characters with Battlefield Role among the W’adrhŭn.

The Power of the Ukunfazane:

The Scion knows five impressive prayers:

• Crescendo (Range: Self, Attunement: 4): Gain one Conquest Marker and look at the top three cards of your deck, rearranging them in any order. This allows the Scion to generate two markers in his activation, enabling his regiment to activate immediately with three markers.
• Dissonance (Range: 12", Attunement: 3): Until the end of the round, enemy regiments engaged in melee do not benefit from the Inspired special rule if the selected friendly regiment performs a Battlecry chant. I have yet to find a good situation to use this.
• Cacophony (Range: 12", Attunement: 4): Every success is a hit, and the enemy must also take morale tests. A solid choice when there's nothing else to cast.
• Discordance (Range: 12", Attunement: 4, Scaling): An enemy regiment within 12” cannot hold objectives until the end of the turn (but still contests them as usual). Attunement 4 and no line of sight required make this incredibly strong. Along with Crescendo, this is the Scion’s best spell.
• Resonance (Range: 12", Attunement: 4): All enemy regiments in an objective zone within 12" gain Decay 2 until the end of the round. Unless you're affecting 10+ Stands that haven’t activated yet, it’s mostly useless. Unfortunately, this is almost always the case.

Warband Cults:

A Scion of Conquest always follows the Cult of Conquest, and so do all non-Chosen regiments in his Warband. Chosen regiments have a predefined Cult they must follow.

Optional Artefacts:

The W’adrhŭn have a limited selection of artifacts, many of which are cult- or character-restricted. Except for the Winglord Predator, each character can only equip one artifact.

Cult Artefacts:

• Roar of the Tribe (30 points): Can only be taken if the character follows the Cult of Conquest. The regiment he joins gains the Blessed rule when using Conquest Tier 2 Chant. I see this often with Chosen of Conquest and only consider it valid in that context.
  • Blessed: Once per round, units with Blessed may reroll all failed hit rolls OR all failed defense rolls during a Clash or Charge action (including Impact Attacks). You must declare the use of this ability before rolling dice.

Armors:

• Beads of Death (20 points): Grants the regiment Tenacious 1. My personal favorite for the Scion.
  • Tenacious 1: Treats one failed defense roll as a success.

Weapons:

• Kiss of the Dilosaur (20 points): Enemies must reroll all successful defense and resolve rolls against the Scion’s attacks. This significantly increases his damage potential.

Optional Masteries:

While the artifact selection is limited, the Mastery selection is even more restricted, often limited by Cult, Character, or Warlord status. However, the effects are generally very strong.

• Adaptability (20 points): If the Scion’s regiment chants any Tier II Battlecry, an objective marker within 6" is destroyed. A fantastic ability.
• Vision (30 points): The Scion must be a Warlord and belong to the Cult of Conquest. In return, ALL infantry and cavalry characters in your army gain Flank. Even if only he got Flank, I would still take this for 30 points.
• Drum Beast Rider: The Scion gains the Rider special rule and must ride a Drum Beast in his Warband. Additionally, all his non-Self prayers gain +4" range. Discordance with 16" range is brutal.
  • Rider: This character is not deployed as a separate Stand but is instead attached to a Monster Regiment in his Warband. The character must be placed on the Monster’s base. The regiment is treated as two Stands: one Monster Stand and one Character Stand. If the character dies in a duel, the Monster gains the Broken status, as it has lost half its Stands. The Monster Stand is used for measuring distances and drawing line of sight. Normally, a Monster Stand counts as 3 Stands for scoring, with the character Stand adding to that. This means a Rider model typically counts as 4 Stands for scoring.

General Tactics:

The only positive aspect is that he can produce two markers per round, allowing attached regiments to use Chants immediately. However, I currently can't find a place for the Scion in my lists, even though I'm desperately trying to fit him in somehow. His melee profile and spells are completely valid—an attack spell, preventing the opponent from scoring, generating more tokens. All good. But the reason I don't play him is probably that his exclusive Chosen regiments are now available as Mainstay units anyway, and I can now only use Conquest Chants with Conquest tokens.

This makes it difficult for me to use him effectively as a Warlord, as I can't utilize a third action with the Chosen of Conquest. Simply put, outside of the Chosen of Conquest and himself, we could only generate Conquest markers with a Warlord. The Drumbeast doesn't really help either, since I'm already producing enough markers, and within the warband, it just doesn’t synergize well enough for my taste.

I've played him a few times with a Queen or a Predator Warlord, both of whom had some Light units to generate enough Conquest tokens and get my Chosen onto the field quickly. But I never really liked it because I could instead take so many other cool models, especially the dinos, for the same points, units that fit my playstyle and army much better.